Kathy Lynn Emerson's Blog, page 27

Straddling the Great Divide

Kate Flora here, thinking about the interesting situation I currently find myself in. What’s the great divide? Well, I think of myself as a classic East Coast liberal. I went to Northeastern, a radical law school, for my law degree. I’m a feminist, and went to law school, in part, because of losing a job at Tufts University, in a staff cut of one, because I challenged pay inequity between my salary and that of men with identical experience doing the same job. As a lawyer, I enforced the collection of child support from deadbeat parents, handled cases of battered children and represented the Maine Human Rights Commission. I’ve always thought of myself as the “girl in the white hat.”

I believe in protecting the rights of the little guy or gal. I want a government that protects those rights and isn’t run by corporations and heavily influenced by lobbyists. I want clean water, safe food, and net neutrality.

And now, my two most recent publications fall into widely disparate camps. On the [image error]liberal side, there’s my story in a collection called The Obama Inheritance. http://amzn.to/2zJxduo The story came about when I reponded to this invitation:

CRIME + POLITICS: THE OBAMA INHERITANCE is a proposed anthology wherein contributors would riff on any one of dozens of teabagger-alt right conspiracy theories about Obama’s years in office and turn them on its head.  For instance, an agent of H.O.P.E. (Higher Operations for Proletariat Enlightenment) travels back in time to safeguard Obama’s birth certificate in Hawaii and winds up battling John Bircher-like saboteurs; an assassin stalks a radical college professor and student Obama who must deal with this fool using his kung fu skills; A young Michelle Robinson must use her wits and kung fu skills uncovering a plot to replace black and other progressive leaders with sell-out androids; a Trump-like individual makes a deal with the Devil to gain power; undocumented workers ban together to hire a masked luchador to bring down a corrupt Arizona sheriff; and a la the old cartoon show Super President, Obama slips into his secret identity as Prez X to quell a volatile situation in the ‘hood involving armed Promise Keeper types. In other words, stuff should be pulpy, sci-fi, over-the-top, thrillerish, psychedelic.

Teeing off from the so-called “terrorist fist-bump,” I wrote a story about Michelle Obama, and a vigilante group of women in high government posts persuading drug company moguls to roll back their outrageous price raises on critical drugs for children. In the reviews for that book, I got what every writer dreams of—Maureen Corrigan reading from my story on NPR. She said: A truly fabulous story kicks off this collection. Remember all those loud whispers, sparked by a fist bump, that Michelle Obama was a covert black power separatist? In “Michelle in Hot Water,” crime writer Kate Flora takes that conspiracy fantasy about the first lady and runs with it. Here’s how the story opens:

The big man with the Russian accent wore an expression somewhere between a smirk and a smile. Not a pleasant smile, but the smile of someone who likes to inflict pain and was about to do just that . … Michelle wasn’t afraid of him; bullies had been common in the part of Chicago where she grew up. Her years in the White House had shown her plenty more, even if they did hide behind expensive suits and artificial courtesies. No. … What scared her was the predicament she had gotten herself into and the trouble it was going to cause for her team: Faiza from State, Leela from the Surgeon General’s office, Charisa from the Pentagon, Lourdes from the FDA, and Alice from Justice.

http://www.npr.org/2017/10/09/556571413/collection-puts-a-playful-pulpy-twist-on-preposterous-stories-about-obama

And this terrific review in The Washington Post: http://wapo.st/2AcTbFa

On the other side of the divide is this: Shots Fired: The misunderstandings, [image error]misconceptions, and myths about police shootings which I co-wrote with retired Portland assistant chief Joseph K. Loughlin. http://bit.ly/2iJMVdy From the jacket:

Get a deeper understanding of police shootings through interviews with officers involved in real-life cases

Today’s media is filled with discussions about officer-involved shootings. Too often missing from that discussion are the police officers’ voices and the reality of what happens in actual shooting incidents. Through actual interviews with involved officers, this book addresses common myths and misunderstandings about these shootings.

Shots Fired is a journey “behind the shield” and the experiences of the real human beings behind the badge. It explores true events through the participants’ own eyes and takes readers inside the minds of officers during the actual event. The officers detail the roller coaster of emotions and severe trauma experienced during and after a shooting event.

Along with the intimate, in-depth explorations of the incidents themselves, the book touches the aftermath of police-involved shootings—the debriefings, internal and external investigations, and psychological evaluations. It challenges many commonly held assumptions created by the media such as the meaning of “unarmed” and why the police can’t just “shoot him in the leg,” creating an understanding that reaches beyond slogans such as “hands up, don’t shoot.”

The book is valuable reading for anyone who wants a deeper understanding of police shootings—officers and police departments, reporters and politicians, and the public who rely on the police to keep them safe.

So how did liberal me come to be the co-author of this book? Perhaps because the purpose of the book is to help us all have a more informed conversation, one that doesn’t jump to conclusions based on policing we’ve learned from TV and the movies. One that goes behind the stories reported in the news. Because I believe liberal also means open-minded and willing to consider multiple aspects of an issue. Because I’ve spent the last fifteen years sitting with cops, both for research so I could write better informed police procedurals, and because I’ve been helping people in the public safety world tell their stories.

Because I’ve seen, in the people I’ve interviewed, the impacts of the work we ask them to do, and would like others to join me in a deeper understanding of those impacts. It’s not like TV. They don’t just holster their guns and walk away. Taking a life is never easy. Nor is a job where you see the humanity’s worst side every day.

So this fall, as I straddle the great divide—one foot in radical empowerment camp and another in the world of cops, I am hoping that readers will lift their fists in a resounding “YES!” when Michelle gets out of hot water, and I’m hoping that they will also take the time to read about police shootings from the police point of view.

 

 

 

 

Another Gift From Mom

John Clark shifting gears in the midst of a planned post. I had today’s blog mostly written when a random thought made me go in another direction. Our book discussion group is reading Henry Beston’s The Outermost House this month. It was my pick because Mom was a big fan of his writing and I knew by picking it, I’d have to read it. It didn’t take long to understand why my mother liked his writing. They were kindred spirits in the way they observed nature and how it flowed and changed around them. Beston’s description of birds both on the dunes and in flight are moving in their eloquence. It’s hard to believe this was written almost 90 years ago.

Our mother shared similar awareness in her Orange Mailbox columns for many years in the Camden Herald. Kate and I inherited some of her traits, but one that we both seem to have run with later in life, is that eye for detail in nature. We’ve become enamored of digital photography. Kate’s sunsets are spectacular. When I was reading Beston’s book yesterday, I realized that my particular fascination with capturing the world around me isn’t so much the big picture as it is the smaller aspects most people miss. The photos that follow are some examples of what I’m talking about. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I did taking them.

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Caught a piece of this Alaskan glacier as it hit the water.

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Ms. Garden Spider was nesting over the library door.

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Taken on Grand Manan Island. Always thought it would make a neat cover for a mystery.

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I love the silver saddlebag on this bumble bee.

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Beth and I stopped at a picnic area on Memorial day last year and this was growing by a stream.

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This bittern visited our back yard two years in a row. Kate and I grew up listening to them in Katy Cove.

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“Another Fine Mess You’ve Gotten Us Into, Ollie.”

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Not sure whether this slide was made by beaver or otters. I took the photo on a back road near Castine about ten years ago.

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Saw this while walking on a beach in Perry. Thought the description on the bottle fragment suited the image.

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Inspecting the Late Charles Hall’s fine fantasy novel. Sadly, Charles died before completing the series.

More images are posted on my facebook page

Curtain Up

[image error]Katherine Hall Page: Even though I am now living in Maine over four months each year and my first visit was in 1951, we all know that just because a cat has kittens in an oven, doesn’t make them biscuits. But in my mind, Maine is home. I plan to be here a very long time since my parents are buried in Deer Isle and there’s plenty of room in the plot for the rest of us.

Thanks to Googling the Disney film, “Alice in Wonderland” I can pinpoint the exact date when I crossed the border after a long “Are We There Yet” drive from New Jersey. My parents had been camp counselors in Cooper’s Mills before the war and there was little question that for them, Maine was indeed “the Way Life Should Be”, despite their affection for the Garden State where they grew up, as did I. “Alice” was released July 26th. Dad took a whole week for our vacation and I’m realizing that due to school, jobs and the war, it must have been his first real one. We boarded with Alberta Jackson in her farmhouse on a small pond in Readfield where fellow camp counselor friends lived. Possibly Miss Jackson provided the meals, which would have been the only incentive my mother needed. With the arrival of my sister in 1950, joining my older brother and me in the middle, Mom once told me that she burst into tears early on at the thought of how many meals for five she’d have to drum up until the nest was empty. That all three of her offspring love to cook is no accident. It was sometimes a necessity— and no hardship. Mom’s paintings were much more important than any culinary achievements.

One hot day during our Readfield stay, my father took my brother and me to the movies in the big city—nearby Augusta. The novelty of a movie theater was special enough. I’d never been to one. I can recall small details—scratchy velvet seats, the smell of popcorn—but it was the glorious color of the film itself and characters come to life that have stayed with me more than anything else. It’s not too fanciful to imagine that when we returned to the house, I saw the Cheshire Cat in every tree and believed I might come across the Mad Hatter’s tea party in Miss Jackson’s woods.

While I was writing The Body in the Casket, I came back to this memory. There is nothing [image error]to equal the magic that takes words on a page and transforms them into flesh and blood images be they on a screen or on a stage. Or the excitement. We cringe now at Mickey Rooney’s hackneyed phrase, “Hey, Gang! Let’s put on a show!” but think of all the orphanages—fill in a host of other causes—he and Judy saved in those films. Think of your own first theatrical experience—in the audience or on the stage. At camp, in school—we all recognize that tingly feeling before the curtain went up.

I wish I had the Playbill from the very first Broadway production I saw: Gertrude Lawrence, the famous British actress, in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I, a matinee in 1952. The musical, which opened in 1951, had taken Broadway by storm. Rex Harrison turned down the role of the king and Yul Brynner, who would forever be associated with it, was cast. I was quite a little girl, but remember the two of them whirling about the stage to “Shall We Dance”, Lawrence’s hoop-skirted silk gown shimmering brightly in the spotlight. The other memory that is still so clear all these years later is of the vibrant colors—the costumes and the sets. The songs must have made an impression as well, but so many were hits that I can’t be sure whether I am recalling the original experience or the repetitions, (Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s “song” while courting was “People Will Think We’re in Love”!).

[image error]On Deer Isle, we have the Stonington Opera House—originally built in 1912—a performance hall like so many others in small Maine communities that hosted travelling performers, but also doubled as basketball courts, skating rinks, town meeting hall and more. Finding something to do, or see, in Maine has never been a problem. Deer Isle’s Cabin Fever Players delivers Tony-Award worthy productions and you don’t have to know someone to play a role. Well, this could be because everyone already knows everybody. But it’s all about the community.

In The Body in the Casket I was able to combine two of my favorite things: performances and country house mysteries. Faith Fairchild is asked to cater a 70th birthday weekend long party for legendary Broadway producer, Max Dane. The twist is that Max hasn’t ventured out of his secluded mansion near Faith’s Aleford, Massachusetts since his colossal failure: Heaven or Hell The Musical. When she meets with him for a tour of the premises and menu discussion, he tells her that although he is sure she is an expert chef, he is hiring her for her “sleuthing abilities”. She can’t resist the job, especially when she learns all the guests were involved in the show either as actors or behind the scenes. Max is sure one of them wants him dead and he has an early, macabre, birthday gift to prove it.

Maine has its share of mansions, or “cottages”, that make for great country house murder settings. All the ones we can see and all those that we cannot with the stone pillars and “Keep Out” signs on MDI and other spots. In Casket, I of course had to throw in a power outage—really should have set this book in Maine—and an unexpected guest. There are recipes, all referencing heaven or hell dishes, at the end since hard-to-believe, not everyone is interested in the food!

One final note: when reading the book those of you who are film buffs may recognize several that informed the writing of this book: The Wrong Box (1966), Sleuth (1972 version), Deathtrap (1982), Clue (1985), and especially Murder By Death (1976). These also explain why Max Dane and Michael Caine became one in my imagination.

Katherine Hall Page is the author of twenty-three previous Faith Fairchild mysteries. The recipient of Malice Domestic’s Lifetime Achievement Award, she has received Agathas for best first mystery (The Body in the Belfry), best novel (The Body in the Snowdrift), and best short story, (“The Would-Be Widower”). She has also been nominated for the Edgar, the Mary Higgins Clark, the Macavity, and the Maine Literary Award. She lives in Massachusetts and Maine with her husband.

 

 

 

 

 

Weekend Update: November 25-26, 2017

[image error]Next week at Maine Crime Writers, there will be posts by Katherine Hall Page (Monday), John Clark (Tuesday), Kate Flora (Wednesday), special guest William Andrews (Thursday), and Kaitlyn Dunnett/Kathy Lynn Emerson (Friday).

In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:

[image error]from Kaitlyn Dunnett: X Marks the Scot hits stores on Tuesday, November 28 in both hardcover and ebook formats. This is the eleventh Liss MacCrimmon Mystery, although they don’t have to be read in order. In this one, Liss, who owns a Scottish-themed gift shop in the fictional village of Moosetookalook, Maine buys a painting at an estate auction and discovers what appears to be a treasure map hidden in the backing. Being Liss, how can she not try to find where X is located? Her treasure hunt takes her to Nova Scotia, to the Scottish games at Antigonish, and home again. This time her partner in sleuthing is her now-retired aunt, Margaret MacCrimmon Boyd, so of course Margaret’s two adorable Scotties, Dandy and Dondi, make several appearances, as do Liss’s cats, Lumpkin and Glenora.

Also, from November 26-December 10, the third Liss MacCrimmon mystery, A Wee Christmas Homicide, will be on sale in Nook format for $1.99.

 

 

 

An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.

And a reminder: If your library, school, or organization is looking for a speaker, we are often available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries of the business. Contact Kate Flora

MY FIVE REASONS TO KEEP WRITING

As a writer of romantic suspense, I’m a member of the Maine Romance Writers. Our newsletter has a feature called “My Five,” in which members list five items about anything—favorite children’s books, crazy Christmas gifts, a spouse’s foibles, writing challenges/successes/ frustrations, etc. So the opportunity to write mine came at a critical time in my writing career. A down time.

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After my first book for Silhouette Intimate Moments was published in 2001, I went through a three-year drought before selling again. Then the next four books seemed to breeze through the submission process. Silhouette loved me. My books finaled in contests. Breaking All the Rules was a top seller. Deadly Memories was a Romantic Times Top Pick and nominated for Best Silhouette Intimate Moments of 2006. But after Deadly Memories, I hit the skids again.The next submission was rejected. I figured I’d run out my string with the anti-terrorism series so I tried something different. That submission was rejected. And the next.

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In the meantime, I was working on a single title romantic suspense set in Maine, longer and more complex than the “category” novels I’d been writing. However, getting an agent and selling a single title is tough. As the publisher evolved and Intimate Moments became Silhouette Romantic Suspense and then Harlequin Romantic Suspense, they shortened the word count and changed the balance of suspense to romance, which further meant we weren’t suited for each other. I tried targeting another Harlequin category line. After four rejections there, the senior editor shut the door by saying I wrote well but my “voice wasn’t suited for that line.” Sigh.

Meanwhile, another single-title manuscript finaled in the PASIC Book of Your Heart Contest. Validation someone thought I could still write! At that point, writing the My Five back then prompted me to re-motivate myself. Maybe my thoughts will help someone else who’s hit a low point. Here are My Five Reasons to Keep Writing, à la David Letterman reverse order:

FIVE – If I stopped writing, I would have to get a real job so I can avoid cleaning out dust bunnies and weeds.

FOUR – I have stories to tell and characters in my head that won’t go away and leave me alone. All my life, I’ve suffered from occasional insomnia and occupied my mind during the long nights with my stories. Writing down the stories for others makes those sleepless hours worthwhile.

THREE – Belonging to writer groups has given me acquaintances and friendships with other people who have characters and stories in their heads. I’ve always felt out of step but I feel a sense of belonging more in writing groups than anywhere else. Also, writer groups and writing conferences are always motivating and inspiring.

TWO – The excitement and joy when the words sing or the scene rocks or the plot comes together or the characters seem like real people. If all of those collide, wow!

ONE – The absolute thrill of holding my published book in my hand and seeing it on a store bookshelf or listed online. It’s my baby that I sweated over for months and sent off into the big world.

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Along with that is the thrill of receiving emails from readers who enjoyed the book and ask about the next one. Knowing there are readers who want more sends me back to my computer to experience TWO again. Since then, the single title set in Maine, Primal Obsession, was published by a small press. The other single title that finaled in a contest is On Deadly Ground, the first book in my Devlin Security Force series.

During the past few years, I’ve received the publishing rights back for all five of my Silhouette/Harlequin books. I’ve updated them all and re-issued them. The four books in that early anti-terrorism series are my DARK Files series. Readers and online reviewers seem to like them, so my books are selling. I’m working on another addition to that series, so overall now I’m experiencing numbers ONE and TWO of My Five.

Happy Thanksgiving: My Grandmother’s Yellow Turnips

Yesterday, I made my grandmother Ethel McKim’s yellow turnips. I’ve written before about the recipe books she made for my sister-in-law and me the year before she died. Yellow turnips (also called rutabagas) were a particular feature of family feasts on my mother’s side. Her mother’s mother’s parents were born in Germany, and the foods and traditions of the German side ran deep.

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Like most people, they gave a meal like Thanksgiving an ethnic twist. In their case, coleslaw and yellow turnips were added to the turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy.

Everyone in that line is long gone (except for my cousins and my second cousins, who probably also made yellow turnips yesterday). But funny thing, years ago I brought the turnips to my sister- and brother-in-law’s feast and the family loved them. So now, every year, our Italian, Irish, WASP, Brazilian family enjoys the turnips. So I am offering them to you.

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yellow turnips also called rutabagas

Think you don’t like yellow turnips? Try these. I’ve converted many a skeptic.

Ingredients

1 turnip 2-3 lbs, peeled and cut into chunks

1 large potato, peeled and cut into chunks

2 large onions cut up

1 tsp salt

4 Tablespoons butter

1 Tablespoon flour

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Instructions

Cover the vegetables with water. Add the salt and cook on a low boil for 40 minutes or until soft

Save 1 cup of the turnip water before discarding the rest.

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Mash the vegetables using a potato masher. Make sure there are no chunks remaining.

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In a small pan or fry pan melt 3 or 4 Tablespoons butter.

Add 1 Tablespoon flour stirring quickly.

Continue stirring. Add enough of the turnip water to make a roux. (The roux will be thick and bubbly. If it breaks up, add more water and cook down while stirring.)

Mix the roux into the turnips thoroughly.

Add sugar, salt and pepper to taste. (Grandmother recipes say things like this. It depends on the turnips, but I use a quarter cup of sugar. I lightly cover the top of the mash with salt and pepper, stir it in and repeat.)

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The recipes says serves 6 to 8, but on a day like Thanksgiving when there will be many side dishes, it will go further.

My grandmother notes: Good with beef, pork and fowl.

So there you have it. I recommend it. Happy Thanksgiving.

The 10 Writing and Editing Stages of the Successful Novel

I know that tomorrow is Thanksgiving, and all the cool kids are therefore writing about all the things they’re thankful for. I definitely have many, many things to thank the universe for this year: a lovely new home, a cat-and-puppy duo to bring daily smiles to my face, wonderful friends and family and a man I’m crazy about who hangs his hat in that very-same lovely new home. But this past weekend I taught a course on independent publishing for Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, and one of the questions that came up was on the process of editing a novel: how many edits are there, how many people are involved, when do you know the book is done? I’ve been thinking about the subject a bit since that time, and pulled up this post that I wrote a few years ago for my editing business. I’ve updated a bit, but the salient parts remain the same. What does it take to write and edit a novel? A lot, as it turns out… 

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When you’re in the midst of writing a novel, it can frequently seem like you’re never going to make your way out of the weeds. How long do you spend on editing? When do you start? When should beta readers come into the picture? Taking those questions into consideration, I’ve drawn up a blueprint below of ten writing stages from the moment you first begin scribbling your novel to that final successful flush when you either submit to agents/publishers or publish the book yourself. Hopefully, if you’re unclear about the process or just feel like you’re missing a step, this post will help you navigate this long and winding road.

(1)    Draft. Write like the wind. While there are no set rules in the writing craft, many writers hold that the most effective way to complete a novel is to blaze through the first draft and then go back and work through revisions once you have a more clear idea of what you’re trying to say. There may be times when you’re forced to go back and rework plot quirks or unexpected twists, but the goal right now is to get the bones of your novel down on paper.

(2)    Rest. Once the first draft is done, give yourself some time away from the book. Some people take two days; some take two years. During that time, don’t obsess. Don’t even think about it for a while—trust me, your subconscious will still be working through all the twists and tangles you were consciously agonizing over during the drafting process.

(3)    Solo Revision. Clean up your completed draft. Address any glaring plot holes. Let yourself sit with the novel for a while.

(4)    Beta Read. Once you’ve finished your solo revision and before bringing in an editor, it’s time for the beta reader – an objective reader who can look through the novel for any big plot holes or character issues. Let your betas know specifically what you’re looking for feedback on, whether it be pacing, plot, character development, dialogue, writing style, or all of the above.  For more on how to effectively utilize beta readers, you can check out this re-post I did a few months back here on Maine Crime Writers.

(5)    Beta Revision. Armed with the feedback from your betas, it’s time to tackle another rewrite. During this particular revision, don’t obsess about making things perfect. If you find yourself stumped about how to address an issue your betas raised, relax. Do the best you can, being sure to make note of the challenges you’re facing and any concerns you have. Then, once the beta revision is completed, it’s time to bring in your second wave of defense.

(6)    Content Edit. The content edit is precisely what it sounds like: an edit of the content of your novel, focused on big-picture issues like pacing, plot, character, and story flow. This is a more intensive edit than the beta read, but is often focused on the same concerns. You’ll ideally already have an editor waiting in the wings as you finish the beta revision, so they can get straight to work once you’re done. Send the completed manuscript to that editor along with any questions or concerns you have. Wait. Take a breath. Don’t harass your editor. For heaven’s sake, don’t start rewriting the novel on your own. Chill out or, better yet, start working on the next book!

(7)    Content Rewrite. When you get your manuscript back from the editor, it’s bound to come with a lot of red ink. Often with a content editor, the changes may require a comprehensive, structural rewrite. Don’t panic. A good editor should not only tell you what isn’t working in your book, but can help you come up with a plan to address the issues and make any necessary changes. If you find yourself stumped, talk to your editor and beta readers. This is why it’s important to purchase an editing package that includes consultations and revisions—it does you little good to have a comprehensive edit done and then be left hanging when it comes time to rewrite.

(8)    Copy Edit. The copy edit is a line-by-line edit of your novel as a whole, focusing on the language as a whole. A good copy editor will be looking at syntax, repetition, dialogue, sentence and paragraph structure, punctuation, spelling, and a slew of other writing-related concerns. This is the final polish that makes your novel shine. While the copy editor is hard at work, dive back into the next book secure in the knowledge that you’re rapidly approaching the end of the process.

(9)    Copy Edit Revisions. There’s typically a lot less red ink after a copy edit than with a content edit, and the rewrite consequently is a much less painful process. This is, however, part of the process that’s less subjective than the content edit. You can safely make the call on your own as to whether the good guy gets the girl at the end of the final act – regardless of what your editor might say… But please take your editor’s advice seriously when it comes to things like ellipses, em-dashes, and the proper use of the Queen’s English. You’ve paid them – presumably, quite well – for a reason, and they should know their stuff. If you have questions about any of the mark-up, be sure to ask. More often than not, editors will have an answer regarding the choices they’ve made.

(10)Proofread. The proofreader should be the last person to look at your novel. Some editors also offer proofreading services, while some do not. Either way, proofreaders are crucial to the process. Make sure that you bring the proofreader in after you’ve made your last revisions. Once you have the proofread novel back, you are officially ready to enter the next phase: Publishing or submitting to agents and/or publishers.

And that, my friends, is everything your typical novelist goes through from conception to publication — and that doesn’t even take into account the multitude of revisions and redrafts you’re likely to do on your own, in between betas and editors and proofreaders. Whoever said this writing business is easy was clearly fooling himself!

Jen Blood is the USA Today-bestselling author of the Erin Solomon Mysteries, the Flint K-9 Search and Rescue Mysteries, and the recently released children’s book Maya Picks a Puppy. You can learn more about her work at http://www.jenblood.com. 

My Life in Thanksgivings

Lea Wait, here, thinking about Thanksgiving.

As a young wife, at the first Thanksgiving she hosted, my mother somehow managed to roast a turkey that was rotten inside.  Some women would have laughed and declared the day a vegetarian Thanksgiving, but my mother relived the horror of that day every year, and always cooked “a few extras” on Thanksgiving in case “something went wrong” at the last minute. She was clearly relieved every year when she carved the turkey and all was well, but she gave me a permanent nervousness about the holiday.

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Helping my mother remove a turkey from the oven

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My father, his sister, and her son, at our home for Thanksgiving

When I was a child my mother and grandmother prepared a lavish Thanksgiving dinner, which always started with shrimp cocktail, included a small glass of wine (Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve were the only days wine was served in my home), and ended with a choice of several pies, and sometimes an English trifle. The food was delicious, but most years our only guests were an aged great-aunt and my father’s sister, husband and son, who sat silently for most of the occasion. My one set of living grandparents lived with us, so seeing them was an everyday occurrence. For me, the day was one to be survived.

But maybe my mother was right. Maybe that first disastrous Thanksgiving was a harbinger of holidays to come.

There was the year my mother convinced my father to carve the turkey. He carved himself instead. Result? Blood stains on the embroidered white linen tablecloth, a trip to the emergency room for stitches, and a cold dinner.

Another year my mother burned herself, and sat with a bandaged hand as my grandmother served. (My father having proven himself incompetent at that task.)

My grandmother’s stroke on another Thanksgiving ended that day in the hospital.

And on my personal “worst Thanksgiving ever” I had a bad case of the flu and my small Greenwich Village apartment didn’t have heat that cold holiday weekend. My husband (not my current husband), who’d had just gotten out of the hospital himself, and was on heavy medications, had no idea how to cope, and we had no food in our apartment. We’d planned to go to New Jersey to celebrate with my parents, but clearly couldn’t go. Instead, when my father announced after the holiday dinner that he was taking a bus to Massachusetts to spend the rest of the weekend with a friend, my mother packed up little dishes of what she’d cooked and sent them with my father to the Port Authority bus terminal in New York, where my husband met him. My husband and I ate the cold food under bed covers, for warmth. It might have been cold, but it was turkey and stuffing and vegetables. And I was very thankful for my mother.

Years later, my sisters took turns hosting Thanksgiving (I did Christmas) for a few years.

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My mother and my nieces, Heather and Laura, celebrating their birthdays after Thanksgiving dinner

Since my sister Nancy’s two daughters and our mother all celebrated birthdays Thanksgiving week, she made three cakes to add to our celebration, which was fun.

And then for a few years my father (by then separated from my mother,) invited his girlfriend, my mother, and my sisters and I and our families to join him for an awkward Thanksgiving buffet dinner at the Upper Montclair Country Club.

I didn’t have to cook Thanksgiving dinner during those years, but, always counting pennies, I’d buy several turkeys when they were on sale for the holiday, and once or twice a month all winter I cooked a turkey dinner for my daughters and my mother. My father never understood why no one in my branch of his family ever ordered turkey at his country club Thanksgivings, but turkey was an

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My oldest granddaughter, Tori, checking out Thanksgiving pies.

everyday meat to my girls.

When my children were older, and the country club Thanksgivings were over, one daughter was a cheerleader and one a flag carrier at their high school’s Thanksgiving football games, and one of my daughters worked that day. I’d cook a turkey and a couple of pies, and everyone would eat whenever they got home. One Thanksgiving was memorable because while I was cooking, about twenty wild turkeys decided to walk down the center of our street.  Flaunting their survival? I don’t know. But definitely blocking traffic.

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My daughter Caroline, cheerleading in high school

The first Thanksgiving I lived in Maine full-time just my mother and I were together for Thanksgiving. She insisted that we just have a chicken — a turkey was too much food for two people. Which it might have been. But we didn’t have either. Our oven broke down in the middle of cooking dinner, and we ended up eating hot dogs that night.

Which all may explain why this Thanksgiving my husband and I plan to eat dinner at an Italian restaurant in Boothbay Harbor. I still buy turkeys on sale; we ate one just last week. So, I won’t be surprised if on Thursday we decide to order something other than turkey. And,  most of all, we’ll be thankful to be together.

Wherever you are, and whoever you share Thanksgiving with — I wish you a joyful day, with laughter and joy. And a fully cooked turkey.

Thanksgiving Rules!

As I sit here peeling potatoes and yellow squash for my Thanksgiving Day meal, I can’t help but think about crime. It’s what I write about and love to read. Often, but not always, I like to give thanks after the holiday: thanks that my family didn’t kill each other over the turkey.[image error]

Little do people know that many crimes occur on this day of thanks. That’s why there should be rules to prevent such senseless violence. First, outlaw all forms of political dialogu. Warn Uncle Ralph not to discuss the benefits of trickled down economics. Chastise Aunt Betty when she explains how the election was rigged. Doing this should go a long way toward fanning the flames of political discontent.

Alcohol. Sometimes one needs alcohol when dealing with certain family functions. But all booze should be stowed away on T-day. On the chance that someone does bring up politics, adding alcohol to the mix is a deadly combination. Yes, people will complain, but in the end you’ll be thankful you prohibited the Wild Turkey.[image error]

Absolutely no sharing any insider trading.

If you have Dallas Cowboy fans, tread lightly. People take their football seriously, especially Cowboy fans, and any gentle ribbing about their team losing may lead to homicidal impulses. No one cares about the Lions, because they stink, so feel free tease them generously. Enjoy the game, but be careful offending fans of other teams.[image error]

Thanksgiving Day invites the weirdest types of crimes. Take the ex-New York City police officer, Gilberto Valle. In RAW JUSTICE, by my talented friend, Brian Whitney, he tells hows Valle desired to cook and eat a woman for Thanksgiving dinner. How about poor Jimmy Mulligan who had his turkey and stuffing stolen while on his way to a T-Day celebration. The dispatcher thought it was a joke and dismissed it. When she found out that this crime really happened, she felt so bad that she had delivered an entire Thanksgiving dinner to his house. Or my favorite. A carjacker got the surprise of his life when his victim fought back with a frozen Butterball, sending him to the hospital

I hope everyone has a great thanksgiving. I give thanks for my family and all I’ve been blessed with in life. I thank my great fans for reading my books, and being blessed with the ability and drive to write my novels. Hopefully, I’ll be able to attract a whole new fan base in April with my new novel THE NEIGHBOR. Follow my rules for Thanksgiving and you’re sure to have a safe and wonderful holiday.

Weekend Update: November 18-19, 2017

[image error]Next week at Maine Crime Writers, there will be posts by Joe Souza (Monday), Lea Wait (Tuesday), Jen Blood (Wednesday), Barb Ross (Thursday), and Susan Vaughan (Friday).

In the news department, here’s what’s happening with some of us who blog regularly at Maine Crime Writers:

Saturday, November 18, from 7 am until 4 pm, Lea Wait will be at the Gifts for Giving Holiday show at Studio 53 in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. She’ll also be there Sunday, from 11am until 4 pm.

 

 

 

 

An invitation to readers of this blog: Do you have news relating to Maine, Crime, or Writing? We’d love to hear from you. Just comment below to share.

And a reminder: If your library, school, or organization is looking for a speaker, we are often available to talk about the writing process, research, where we get our ideas, and other mysteries of the business. Contact Kate Flora