Memorable Moments

Posted by Sparkle Abbey

Hello, we’re “Sparkle Abbey.” There are actually two of us, Mary Lee (Sparkle) and Anita (Abbey). We created our pen name by combining our rescue pets’ names, Sparkle (ML’s cat) and Abbey (Anita’s dog). If you’ve seen us at a mystery convention or a book signing, we make it easy--we wear shirts with our names. 

If you do see us, we hope you’ll stop and say hello. One of the very best things about conventions or signings is getting to meet in person those of you we’ve already met out here in cyberspace. We also love to hear about your pets! You see our current series, set in Laguna Beach, features two former Texas beauty queen cousins, Caro & Melinda. Caro is a pet therapist and Mel owns the Bow Wow boutique and though you’d think that would be enough to keep them busy, they also frequently find themselves in the middle of murder investigations. 

So that’s us! We’re excited to be here every first Thursday.

Our fellow bloggers have been talking about fall. For us, November is a month of thankfulness....

We’re so very thankful and blessed to have amazing families, our health, steady jobs and our love of writing. November is also one of our busiest months. Between the family birthdays (ten between the two of us), Thanksgiving, Christmas prep, and the day job, we’re so busying doing that we sometimes forget to pause and treasure the truly important things. Some events in your life are so important that the magical moment is imprinted in your memory forever. Marrying the love of your life, the birth of your children, the birth of your grandchildren.

Then there are other times. You know the ones. The times when you’re so busy you know you can’t possibly add one more item to your “To Do” list. That’s when it takes a little more effort to realize that you’re making memories.

We’ve found those types of memorable moments often involve laughter. Sometimes the laughter comes right away, other times it comes later. Like the time we were road tripping to a mystery convention in Cleveland by the way of Iowa and somehow managed to wind up in Michigan. Oops. Probably too much talking. Still, it turned out to be a wonderful scenic route filled with beautiful woods and winding rivers and we’re still shaking our heads about how it happened.

Once you start talking about one memorable moment you’re flooded others. Some more emotional than others, like when we sold our mystery series. Our families wearing their Team Sparkle and Team Abbey shirts to our first book launch. The first time someone told us they came to a book signing just to see us. Others are more light-hearted. Like when we had our picture taken with an Elvis impersonator, or the time we just wanted to take a picture of our feet in the sand at Laguna Beach and almost got swept away by a huge wave. And still others add to the mix of memories like dinner and plotting with our critique group, swapping stories with Lee Goldberg in Chicago, as well as the opportunity to meet wonderful people like fellow Stiletto Gang members Dru Ann Love and Linda Rodriguez and so many others who we now count as friends.

So before November can run us over like road kill, we’ve decided to pause and enjoy our first blog with The Stiletto Gang. We are thrilled to join this talented group and we look forward to making new friends here.

Now that you know some of our memorable moments, we’d love to hear one of yours. It’s a great way for us to get to know you. And it’s always fun to laugh, or cry, with others.