Terry Odell's Blog, page 133

Writers’ Police Academy 2016 – recap – 4 Mashed Potatoes of Death

I’m continuing my recaps of sessions from the Writers’ Police Academy. You can find my previous posts here for part 1; here for part 2 and here for part 3 My photo gallery is here. And I have an overview of the entire conference at Lee Lofland’s Graveyard Shift blog.

This session was presented by Denene Lofland, who, in true WPA fashion, provided us with sneaky ways to kill people. Her workshop was called Mashed Potatoes of Death, and it dealt with ways to poison people.

She started off by t...

Happy Anniversary

I hope you’ll forgive me for taking a day off. It’s our 47th anniversary. If the recipe I’m trying for tonight’s dinner works out, I’ll have it here next Wednesday.

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In The Interview Room – Gregg E. Brickman

Today I welcome Gregg E. Brickman to Terry’s Place. Gregg is the author of six mysteries featuring strong creative nurses who use all of their skills to help others, confront danger, and stay alive.

What’s your biggest distraction when you should be writing?
That’s easy. Life. And, we recently moved into a new home in a forested, mountain community in Tennessee. In addition to “fixin’ up the place,” there is a whole new world to explore. I’m moving one of my series here, so I can tell myself...

Writers’ Police Academy 2016 – recap 3 Real Cops for Writers

The next session I attended was Real Cops for Real Writers: “The Psychology of Cops” given by Paul Smith and Ted (his PTSD service dog).

You can find my other recaps by clicking here for part 1; here for part 2. My photo gallery is here. And I have an overview of the entire conference at Lee Lofland’s Graveyard Shift blog today.

Before Smith began, he took Ted’s harness off, which signaled the dog was “off duty” at which point he roamed the classroom, meeting all the attendees.

Early in his...

Friday Field Trip – Writers’ Police Academy 2016

This year, the Writers’ Police Academy was held at the Northeast Wisconsin Technical College International Public SafetyTraining Academy. As always, it was informative and FUN. Here are some pictures of what we saw and did.

On Thursday afternoon, the hotel parking lot was filled with vehicles of all aspects of police work, and there were officers around to answer our questions.

Did I mention a lot of the classes offered were hands-on?

They staged an accident, complete with flight for life...

Writers’ Police Academy 2016 – recap 2 – Firefighters

I’m continuing recaps of the sessions I attended at The Writers’ Police Academy. After our welcome demonstration on Friday, I attended a session given by Jerry Erdman on firefighting with a focus on the life and lingo of firefighters. Note: the information he provided was primarily from Wisconsin and the Green Bay area. It’s always a good idea to check with your local responders. Most of my recaps are going to be bullet point style, hitting the highlights.

Erdman began his talk with a look at...

Writers’ Police Academy 2016 – recap 1 – Welcome

As always, The Writers’ Police Academy pulls out all the stops to provide as much information as possible, and in a ‘real life’ way. At orientation Thursday night, one attendee (obviously a newbie) asked why there was an entire hour set aside Friday morning for “Welcoming Remarks.” Ha! An hour was barely enough, because “Welcoming Remarks” at WPA are not your usual “people stand up and introduce themselves in long, boring fashions.” No, when we arrived on campus, it was to discover there had...

In the Interview Room – Kimbra Kasch

Today I welcome Kimbra Kasch to Terry’s Place. Kimbra is the author of The Viking Series, a historical romance series.

What’s your biggest distraction when you should be writing?
My telephone, the tv, twitter…looks like it’s pretty much anything that begins with the letter “T”.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever done in the name of research?
Had my hair done like Marie Antoinette. It was a pompadour not a Pomeranian.

Plotter or Pantser?
Totally a pantser in everything I do.

Setting: real,...

Reviews Are Like Candy Crush Scores.

Because I’m just getting back from the Writers’ Police Academy, and because I need to schedule this before I leave, today’s post won’t be a recap of any sessions. I doubt there will be a moment’s free time to try to write and upload a post during the conference. Look for those starting later this week.

Meanwhile – there was an interesting post on reviews over at The Kill Zone last week, and it got me thinking, as did a recent discussion from contest judges about how to score entries. Some con...

Friday Field Trip – Clouds

I shot these while we were walking through the neighborhood. Enjoy. If you see any pictures in the clouds, share in the comments.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

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