Behind

 by Bethany Maines

 

As I write this, I am very far behind on writing my fourth book in the San Juan Island Mystery series. I have a title, a nice first chapter, and half an outline.  Which is at least half a draft short of where I wanted to be at this time.  And in other news, there’s a pandemic and my child just started back to school, but for some reason school doesn’t start until 9:45.  Why this is I have yet to determine, but it delays the start of my work day by a significant chunk of time.  I would love to say that those two events are causally related, but they’re really more corollaries. They are linked and related through the reality in which we wade, but, as much as I would like to, I can’t actually say that my school districts scattershot, indecipherable response to the pandemic is actually to blame for not sticking to my schedule.  I may be able to blame the pandemic itself, which has sent me head long into escapist fun writing and sees me closing in on finishing a trilogy of paranormal romances, but I think, in the interests of truthfulness, that’s as far as I can pass the blame.

Me trying to escape the pandemic through writing.

But as school starts back up there is a lot of twittering about the kids being behind. Or not being behind. Or being able to catch up no problem!  To which I say… yeeeeeah?  Maybe.  The truth is that private schools have been in person and in session for much of this time.  So if you could afford private school, which generally means that your kid (who was already looking at better outcomes than a public school kid) is, in fact, ahead.  Yes, the public school kids will bounce back and they’re already in similar boats to each other, but let’s just say that some kids have better rowers on their team than others.  Yes, everything will work out in the end, but the rah-rah “no one is behind” cheer strikes me as particularly delusional when I can point to a whole contingent of children who are receiving a better education due to finances. The pandemic has distinctly widened the gulf between the haves and have-nots. 

But back to me.  Am I behind?  My deadlines are relatively self-imposed.  I can flex them.  Is it sooooo bad to be running late?  Maybe if I type for two days straight I can catch up?  If I can learn anything from the school debacle, it’s that no, probably sprinting to catch up is not the way.  Writing consistently is probably a better way to get quality work.  But having already not done that, it’s probably best to go the public school route and tell myself that I’m not behind and that everything will work out in the end.

***

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, The Deveraux Legacy Series, and numerous short stories. When she's not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Gay Yellen: Finding Comfort and Joy

In the before-times, the term "twenty-twenty" usually indicated good news.

"Hey! Your eyesight is normal!" Or, "Wow! Your logic is clear-sighted!"

This year, a not-so-good connotation arose. At the end of December, when calendar turns, twenty-twenty will forever signify our historic year of global pandemic.

At our house, the trials we've endured have led us to count our blessings. We survived. So many things that we once took for granted have sustained us and saved us from running naked in the streets, howling like banshees. Through social isolation, family separation and, yes, fear of infection, we've learned to count our lucky stars, dim as they sometimes have seemed.

We've found a few uplifting—and often downright silly—activities to keep us sane. A friend turned us on to the old TV mystery series, Murdoch, about a 19th Century police detective who sometimes invents forensic tools to solve crimes. The show is easy on the psyche and a much-needed antidote to our relentless daily news.

 

Even better, we've dug out some of my parents' old LP's of original Broadway shows. We plunk them on the turntable, sing along with great gusto, and dance around the room until we're breathless. No worries about looking foolish. After all, no one's watching.

On nice days, we walk in the park, feed the squirrels, and summon the wintering ducks. My husband's spot-on Donald Duck impression can spark quite a lakeside conversation.

And sometimes, he cooks. Today, he's making turkey vegetable soup, a seasonal change from his delicious chopped salads. There's some to give to neighbors and plenty to freeze for later.

And there's joy to be found in books. Reading is a great way to while away hours in isolation. Because finishing Book 3 of the Samantha Newman Mystery Series has been my top priority this year, I've read less than usual. But gobs of books are in my to-be-read file, and I look forward to the day when I can start whittling the list down.

Finding comfort and joy in small pleasures helps lift our hearts. I hope you're finding ways to grab some for yourself.

What have you found to spark joy these days?

Wishing you a warm December, full of books and love.

Gay Yellen

P.S. Oh! I almost forgot: Mark your calendar for the last week in December when you can pick up The Body Business, Book #1 in the Samantha Newman Mystery Series, free.

Gay Yellen is a former magazine and book editor. She writes the award-winning Samantha Newman Mystery Series, including The Body Business and The Body Next Door. Book #3 in the series is slated for release in 2021.

Gay would love to hear from you, here, on Facebook, or at her website, GayYellen.com.

Introducing Lois Winston!

by Bethany Maines

Bethany Maines

  

Lois Winston

As many of you know, I'm a mom with a full time job as well as an author. And while all of that is challenging enough, the pandemic has brought many fresh and special new problems. To free up some of my time I'm relinquishing one of my Stiletto Gang posting days to the fantastic Lois Winston. Lois is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author who writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Lois will be posting on the second Wednesday of the month and I thought I'd sit down and find out a little more about her as she comes on board.

Q: What do you write?

I started out writing romance and romantic suspense and was first published in chick lit with Talk Gertie to Me in 2006. However, back in 2003, while waiting for that first sale, my agent suggested I try writing a crafting mystery. She knew an editor looking for one. With my background as a crafts designer, my agent thought I’d be the perfect person to write such a series, even though I’d never written a mystery. I gave it a try, and in the process discovered my true literary calling. My Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series sold in 2009. Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the series, came out in 2011. I’ve since published nine books and three novellas in the series, plus two books in my Empty Nest Mystery Series.

Q: What got you excited and started you on your writing journey?

I’m not someone who always knew she wanted to be an author. In the mid-90’s I was going through an extremely stressful period, taking on as much freelance design work as I could because my husband was out of work for an extended period of time. One night I fell into an exhaustive sleep and had a very strange dream—strange for me because I usually don’t remember my dreams. Also, the people in the dream were all strangers. Weirdly, the dream kept unfolding night after night like chapters in a book. Finally, I decided to write it down. When I finished, I had a 50,000 word romance that spanned thirty-five years!

The writing bug had bitten me. Long story short, I joined some writing organizations, learned what I was doing wrong, honed my craft, and signed with an agent. After many years of rewrites, that totally unpublishable romance transformed into a 90,000 word romantic suspense and became Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception, the second book I sold.

Q: Do you solve the mysteries in novels & movies or do you sit back and enjoy the ride?

I should have had an inkling that I’d eventually wind up writing mysteries because I have an uncanny knack for figuring out whodunit early into most books, movies, or TV episodes. I love when I’m wrong and fall for a red herring, but it doesn’t happen often. My grandfather was the captain of a large county police force and responsible for the apprehension of many gangsters and other bad actors back in the day. I figure I inherited a large dose of his detecting DNA.

Q: And of course, I would be remiss if I didn't ask... what are your favorite shoes?

At this point, any that are comfortable! I’m afraid my sexy heels days are over, thanks to foot surgery a few years ago after an injury and arthritis that developed in that foot as a result. So now my shoe closet contains mostly Sketchers with cushioning inner soles.

Connect with Lois!

• Website: www.loiswinston.com
• Newsletter sign-up: https://app.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/z1z1u5
• Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog: www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com
• Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/anasleuth
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Anasleuth
• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/722763.Lois_Winston
• Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lois-winston

Connect with Bethany!

• Website: https://www.bethanymaines.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorBethanyMaines
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorbethanymaines/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BethanyMaines
• Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B002FYCS40
• Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3044976.Bethany_Maines
• BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/bethany-maines

Mysteries in a Series - In Order or No?

by Mary Lee Ashford aka 1/2 of Sparkle Abbey

Do you like to read books that are part of a series? And, if you enjoy reading series fiction, do you always read them sequentially? 

When asked most authors will say that each book stands alone and that they don't neccessarly need to be read in order. And, of course, that's the goal, right?

Whether it's the tenth book in the series or the first, the goal of the writer is always to create a story that can stand on it's own. A self-contained adventure that doesn't rely on the reader knowing something that's not on the page in the installment they're reading.

Many well-known authors with long-running series, such as the late Sue Grafton with twenty-five books from "A is for Alibi" to "Y is for Yesterday" or Janet Evanovich, who is headed for her twenty-sixth Stepanie Plum novel, have purposely created story arcs (and character arcs) of limited changes.

Others such as G.A. McKevett aka Sonja Massie, author of over seventy books, defty uses life changes and character growth to add richness to her plots. Her latest "And the Killer Is..." is on my bedside table right now.

And then there's yet another approach. The inimitable Laura Levine, simply tells you, the reader, in an aside what you need to know. "You'll have to read about when that happened in..." And though I was always taught that author intrusion is something to be avoided at all costs. I'll be darned if it doesn't work just fine when she does it.

You know, I have to say that I enjoy each of these different approaches to storytelling.

But I also have to admit that my preference is always to read a series in order. I like getting to know the people and the places as the series unfolds. Occasionally, I have started with a book that was in the middle of a series. Usually because a friend has shared it or it was part of a conference giveaway. But if I really enjoyed the story, I'm going to track down book one and start at the beginning. Otherwise, to me anyway, it would seem like starting with season three of Downton Abbey or any other great continuing television series. I want to be a part of the story from the beginning.

Is it just me?

How about you? Are you a reader that always wants to read a series in order or do you not care about reading the books strictly in order?

Mary Lee Ashford writes the Sugar & Spice mystery series for Kensington Books and also writes as half of the writing team of Sparkle Abbey, authors of the Pampered Pets series from Bell Bridge Books. 

GAME OF SCONES is the first book in the Sugar & Spice series.

DESPERATE HOUSEDOGS is the first book in the Pampered Pets series.

Leave a comment to be entered in a drawing for both of these "first in the series" titles. Or if you already have them both, any book you're missing in either series!

Readers Under the Magnifying Glass

by Sparkle Abbey

A topic that's endlessly fascinating to those of us who write is you - our readers.

That's right, we're curious about what makes you tick. Why do you choose a particular book. Was it the cover? The back cover blurb? That catchy title? Did someone recommend it?

Did that first line we worked so hard to get just right, pull you in? How did you feel about the main character? Did you love them right away? Did we tell you enough to make you care? Or was that too much information? 

What keeps you reading? And those special books...
You know, the ones you keep to read again and again. The ones you always recommend to friends. What is it that makes them keepers?

So many questions, right?

We recently read an article about how fiction readers choose their next read. A poll had been conducted and below is what was found to be the top five criteria.
1. The book was written by a favorite author.
2. The book was classified in a favorite genre.
3. The book sported an attractive cover.
4. The back-cover copy was appealing.
5. The book was recommended by reviewers and bloggers.

So, what do you think? Would you agree or disagree? How do you choose your next read?
We'd love to hear your thoughts!

Sparkle Abbey is actually two people, Mary Lee Ashford and Anita Carter, who write the national best-selling Pampered Pets mysteries which are set in beautiful Laguna Beach, California.

Downton Tabby, the 7th book in the series, is currently available for only 99 cents in all ebook formats for a limited time.

The authors are friends as well as neighbors so they often get together and plot ways to commit murder. (But don't tell the neighbors.) They love to hear from readers and can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, their favorite social media sites.

Also, if you want to make sure you get updates, sign up for their newsletter via the SparkleAbbey.com website.

Release Day for An Unfamiliar Sea!

by Bethany Maines

An Unfamiliar Sea officially launches this week! An Unfamiliar Sea is a classic mystery with two sleuths: 28-year-old Tish Yearly and her 79-year-old grandfather Tobias.  Tish and Tobias navigate the rocky waters of living together in Tobias's house on Orcas Island in the San Juan Island of Washington state, solve murders, and try to keep their dog Coats from getting diabetes.

This series was inspired by the time I spent assisting my grandmother before she moved out of her house, my childhood trips to Orcas Island and by those enduring one hour mystery shows like Murder She Wrote, Matlock, and Psych.  For me those shows were always about enjoying the quirks and foibles of the characters as much as the mystery. I enjoyed the puzzle of working out how someone died, but I loved seeing how the strengths and weaknesses of the detective would play out each week and how they would triumph in the end. And if you ever read any of my books, you'll quickly realize that I like books with lots of chuckles and quick banter and these books are no exception. From Tish and Tobias arguing about condolence pie to the neighbors and who all have opinions on Tish's dating life I try to keep readers laughing too hard to figure out the mystery (but good for you if you do!).  So if you want a mystery that makes you smile and feels like an island vacation between two covers, then please take a trip to the San Juan's with Tish and Tobias Yearly.

**

AN UNFAMILIAR SEA 
In a storm, you never know which way is home.
Tish Yearly is about to open a wedding venue on Orcas Island, in the San Juan Islands of Washington State. All she wants is to sail through her first wedding, figure out why her best friend isn’t talking to her, and tell her grandfather she’s dating someone he doesn’t approve of. But before she can get to any of that, Tish’s favorite employee turns up dead—apparently drowned in four inches of water. Now Tish, and her grandfather, former CIA agent and current curmudgeon and licensed P.I. Tobias Yearly, are wading through the suspects including a meth-cooking uncle, a brother with anger-management issues, and the mysterious island drug kingpin, who may or may not be going straight. Tish is attempting to navigate this unfamiliar sea, but she may not be able to weather the storms to find her way home.

Learn more about Tish Yearly: Dru's Book Musings Character Interview
Buy the book: Amazon

**

Bethany Maines is the award-winning author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous short stories. When she's not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some serious butt with her black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

Must See Mystery TV

by Sparkle Abbey

Since we read and write mysteries, it was probably also a given that we’d like mystery shows. And there are a lot of great ones to choose from right now. 

Since the arrival of Netflix, Acorn TV, BritBox, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Hallmark Movies and Mysteries, there are more and more opportunities to stumble over shows that are not only great mysteries but are unique and different. 

Why are we so drawn to them? First off, most of these shows are heavily character-driven. The characters are quirky, eccentric and still likable. They are flawed, non-cookie-cutter characters who find themselves in extreme situations. Some serious, some with a mix of humor. Yet they feel so realistic you find yourself rooting for them to get their act together and succeed. 

Plus these shows have great plots! Twists and turns and puzzles to figure out. We love it when we get it figured out before the end of the show; and we love it even more when we don't. 

Here are a few of the shows we're watching:
My Life is Murder
Midsomer Murders
Death in Paradise
Father Brown
Agatha Christie's Inspector Poirot
Murdoch Mysteries Movies
Shakespeare and Hathaway
Vera  
Queens of Mystery
No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency
Miss Fisher's Mysteries
Ms. Fisher's Modern Murder Mysteries

What do you think? Did we list your favorite? Or did we miss your must-see? We're always open to ideas.

Sparkle Abbey is actually two people, Mary Lee Woods aka Mary Lee Ashford and Anita Carter, who write the national best-selling Pampered Pets cozy mystery series. They are friends as well as neighbors so they often get together and plot ways to commit murder. (But don't tell the neighbors.) They love to hear from readers and can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, their favorite social media sites.

Their most recent book is The Dogfather, the tenth book in the Pampered Pets series.

Also, if you want to make sure you get updates, sign up for their newsletter via the SparkleAbbey.com website.

Day in the Life...

by Bethany Maines

This week I have officially sent my third San Juan Island’sMurder Mystery off to the beta readers, broken a client’s website, and took my daughter to her first karate class.  It’s been a busy week.  Tish Yearly, the heroine of the San Juan Mysteries also lives a busy, scattered life, hopping from emergency to emergency.  But that’s not really the kind of thing I want to emulate about my characters.  And I certainly don’t want to be finding dead bodies every time I turn around.  It would be extremely untidy if nothing else.

In fact, I think living the life of a mystery heroine would be extremely fraught.  You would never know when your next acquaintance was going to turn up dead.  There are some benefits of course.  There’s always some sort of hot police personnel person hanging around and who doesn’t like that?  But the number of friends hiding dark secrets must only be rivaled by the friends in a Romance novel.  Possibly less secret babies, but I wouldn’t want to place money on that.  And don’t forget that usually one of your other friends is the killer.  What kind of people are you associating with mystery heroine?!!  You need a better friend group! 

So, to sum up… I’m glad I’m not a mystery heroine, but I really wish I hadn’t broken the website.  And now if you’ll excuse me I have to go spend some time on hold with the person who can access the website database.  But here is a quote from Unfamiliar Sea to make us all laugh while I cry over the hold music.

**

Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie Mae Mystery Series, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous short stories. When she's not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some serious butt with her fifth degree black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and BookBub.

The Perfect Ending

by Bethany Maines

Sci-fi season is done and I’m back to working on mysteries!  Yay!  Something I’m utterly comfortable with and totally know how to do.  Wait… how do you do this again?  I think I’ve got genre whiplash.  Can I just toss in some aliens at the end of this thriller and solve everything?

As I plug away toward the ending on my latest WIP (work-in-progress) I find myself struggling to find the perfect stopping point (that doesn’t include aliens). Some genres are more forgiving of ambiguity in an ending, but I think that across all genre’s the perfect ending is one that feels satisfactory to the characters. I’ve read many books where it was as though author just wandered off and their lead character is left twisting in the wind. (Grapes of Wrath, I’m looking at you.  Just because you couldn’t come up with more tortures for your characters does not mean you just get to quit writing Steinbeck.) I’m all for leaving room for character development and a sequel, but… uh… let’s have a little bit of satisfaction for the reader and character.

And an author probably shouldn’t subvert their genre too hard.  Hamlet is not meant to end with Hamlet and Ophelia riding off into the sunset.  Romances should definitely have the two main characters getting together and mysteries should solve the damn mystery.  Don’t betray the audiences trust just to be clever.  But that still leaves a lot of leeway.  Just HOW do I want my characters to get together?  What’s the perfect way to expose the murderer?  It’s like I’ve got a choose-your-own-adventure in my head and I’m the only one who can figure out if I’m supposed to flip to page 42 or 117. 

So wish me luck as I venture off to page 117.  Hopefully I don’t die.

***

BUY TODAY: $4.99 on Amazon

3 novels, 1 low price

Welcome to the universe of Galactic Dreams, where fairy tales are reimagined for a new age—the future.

***

Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie Mae Mystery Series, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous short stories. When she's not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some serious butt with her fourth degree black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

Galactic Dreaming

by Bethany Maines

The sci-fi fairy tale anthology Galactic Dreams Volume 2, featuring my novel The Seventh Swan will be released next week. Today, I'm interviewing one of the the other authors featured in the anthology: Karen Harris Tully.  Karen generally writes sci-fi YA novels, including The Faarian Chronicles trilogy, and creates elaborate worlds for her novels aided by her bachelor’s in political science and economics. We met through a mutual friend and I have had the pleasure of beta reading some of her manuscripts.

For the Galactic Dreams series, myself, Karen, and fellow Stiletto Gang author J.M. Phillippe, were given the task of creating a literary universe that could be shared across the anthology series. We have to agree on the history of the universe as well as technology and vocabulary.  Each of us is venturing into unexplored territory, whether it's by sharing a world, trying out the sci-fi genre (that's me!), or attempting to write on a shorter deadline than normal, the Galactic Dream series has been challenging for all of us. I'm asking Karen about some of the challenges that came with writing as part of the Galactic Dream Team.

What is the best/worst part about sharing a universe with two other writers?
KHT: Like Cerberus, three heads are simply better than one. I may come up with some good ideas, but when I'm lucky enough to put those together with the imagination brainpower of JM Phillippe and Bethany Maines, well, the stuff we come up with as a trio is mind-blowing. And when our brains flow and mesh together to create something bigger, that I never could have imagined on my own, that's the fun part. Of course, the worst is when they don't like my amazing ideas! As if that could ever happen, right? ;)

BMM: You have great ideas—we're probably missing out on sheer awesomeness whenever one gets voted down.

How do you develop the technology in your books?
KHT: The ideas, you mean? They come from extrapolating real, amazing s**t that is happening right now! I am so fascinated with CRISPR gene editing for example. I love science news and listen to a lot of NPR and science podcasts. I read online articles about new tech that scientists and companies are developing that isn't even out yet, from gadgets and tech to clean up our oceans, to weapons of the future, to tiny interstellar disk probes on shiny, laser powered sails, and pretty much everything else. I think to myself, what happens with this technology next, what does this look like in a hundred or a thousand years? And then I write it in. 

BMM: I'm interested in the tech, but I think the social ramifications of a technology become more interesting for me. I think you're more science-minded than me. Which is beneficial.  Definitely don't leave me in charge of the tech.

Do you think fairy tales adapt better to sci-fi than other genres (and if so, why)?
KHT: Of course! Because what used to be magic, strictly relegated to the realm of fantasy, is becoming real, through technology. Waving a magic wand is too easy. Making miracles happen in real life, that's science. I love it most when science and fiction, fantasy and imagination, all crash together to create something new, weird, and wonderful.
BMM: I completely agree with this, but also, I think some of the disjointed plotting of fairy tales can more easily be explained in sci-fi because... aliens.  :D

The core of your plot is a mystery of who is behind an impending war—do you approach that plot line differently than the sci-fi portions? 
KHT: I think all good sci-fi starts off with a mystery. Strange stuff is happening in a weird location and the science and imagination of that fascinates me. But, without the mystery of why the drama is happening, and who's behind it all, fighting the alien horde would just be visceral stimulation without a purpose, you know?

BMM: That's right. You heard it here, folks. Even the sci-fi people admit... Everything is Mystery!

Many thanks to Karen Harris Tully for being interviewed today!

**

PRE-ORDER TODAY: $4.99 on Amazon

3 novels, 1 low price

Release: 2/19/19

**

Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie Mae Mystery Series, San Juan Islands Mysteries, Shark Santoyo Crime Series, and numerous short stories. When she's not traveling to exotic lands, or kicking some serious butt with her fourth degree black belt in karate, she can be found chasing her daughter or glued to the computer working on her next novel. You can also catch up with her on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

Liars or Truth Seekers?

by Sparkle Abbey

Ever play two truths and a lie? The ice breaker game where each person shares three facts about him or herself, but one is really a lie. The others must pick out the lie from the truths. The most successful players know that the best lie contains a truthful element.

According to Stephen King, “Fiction is the truth inside the lie.” Perhaps one can consider fiction to be a form of two truths and a lie.

Great fiction has the power to reveal truth through well defined and developed characters. Yet truth is a matter of perspective – especially in mystery fiction. Truth, lies and deceit are pillars in a great mystery. If the characters, for the most part, always told the truth, the mystery is quickly solved and well, that’s pretty darn boring. And a very short novel. Think about some of your favorite characters. They are most likely flawed, complex, and strive to do the right thing, although at times going about it the wrong way.

Are they liars or truth seekers? Perhaps both.

When do characters lie?

Secondary characters lie to the protagonist, the protagonist lies to other characters, and the protagonist lies to his or herself.

Self-deception is an important element in fiction. Like in real life, our characters are quick to justify and find excuses for lying—even the good guys. It’s only a white lie, to protect someone’s feelings. They didn’t actually lie; they just omitted the truth when asked if they had information. Or maybe they did lie to protect someone they love who is accused of a crime they didn’t commit, buying time to find the truth. Ah…a truth seeker!

 

Professional lie detector Pamela Meyer says, “Lying is a cooperative act.  Think about it, a lie has no power whatsoever by its mere utterance. Its power emerges when someone else agrees to believe the lie.” (Check out her awesome TED Talk: How to spot a liar). 

As writers we “lie” by planting clues of misdirection, red herrings, false clues, inaccurate witnesses, and false confessions. Our lies add tension and hid the truth until the appropriate time for the big reveal. In a mystery these types of lies are acceptable because the reader is already in on the joke or “lie” the second they opened the book. The reader “agrees to believe the lie.”

As writers not only do we want to entertain, but we also have a point of view, a “truth inside a lie” we want to convey to others by storytelling—redemption, love, forgiveness, justice. A truth seeker.

Though we are, you could say, “professional liars” we have a responsibility to the reader to play fair throughout the journey we take them on: to use the lies to weave the story, create the conflict, and eventually to reveal the truth. 

Sparkle Abbey is actually two people, Mary Lee Woods and Anita Carter, who write the national best-selling Pampered Pets cozy mystery series. They are friends as well as neighbors so they often get together and plot ways to commit murder. (But don't tell the neighbors.) They love to hear from readers and can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, their favorite social media sites. Also, if you want to make sure you get updates, sign up for their newsletter via the SparkleAbbey.com website.

Nikki Lanier in the Hot Seat

by Bethany Maines

In today's blog we're interviewing Nikki Lanier, the star of the Carrie Mae Mysteries and the upcoming Glossed Cause by Bethany Maines. The interview questions are selected questions from Marcel Proust's Questionnaire of 35 questions intended to reveal an individuals true nature.  So read on to find out what makes Nikki Lanier tick...

1. On what occasion do you lie?
Most occasions? Sorry, that’s an awkward question. I have to lie to most people on a daily basis. The Carrie Mae Foundation, the non-profit charity branch of Carrie Mae Cosmetics, and my employer, has the extremely simple goal of “helping women everywhere.” But the Carrie Mae founders realized early on that helping women sometimes requires a silk glove of diplomacy and sometimes an iron fist of enforcement. Basically, the Carrie Mae Foundation is part non-profit, part black ops force. And I’m part of the iron fist, but I can’t tell anyone. My boyfriend—the CIA agent—just found though… I guess we’ll see how that turns out.

Nikki Lanier

2. What is your idea of perfect happiness?
A Saturday afternoon at the beach with my friends, my boyfriend, no one shooting at me and no phone calls from my mother. You wouldn’t think that would be so hard to achieve, but it’s been difficult. My friends all work for Carrie Mae, my boyfriend works for the CIA and my mother doesn’t know when to butt out, so getting a free Saturday rarely seems to happen.

3. What is your greatest fear?
That everyone will find out that I’m just faking it. I know they say imposter syndrome is a real thing for women, but I just keep feeling like everyone else has it more together than I do. I mean, yeah, I can speak five languages, but one of those is Latin. And OK, so I can shoot pretty straight and I know how to get into AND out of a bar fight and a foreign country, but I still can’t shake the feeling that other spies have their stuff way more together. Oh, and my other greatest fear is that my father will try to steal the Mona Lisa.

4. What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
I have a tiny bit of a temper and sometimes something will just set me off. Next thing you know, I’m force feeding someone their lipstick. I have to say though, having a job where I get to punch people on the regular has cut back in my occasional outbursts. Mostly. Sort of. I think.

5. What do you most dislike about your appearance?
Sigh. My hair. I think I’m finally at a place in my life where I’m OK with being a red-head, but there was a lot of my childhood that I hated it. And even now, it just seems to have a mind of its own.

6. What or who is the greatest love of your life?
My boyfriend, Z’ev Coralles. He’s got these brown eyes and this voice that just makes me melt. How am I supposed to resist him? I know I should. My boss would be a lot happier if we broke up, but… He knows how to salsa and then there’s his derriere. Don’t tell anyone, but it should probably have a few poems written about it.

Val Robinson

7. What is the trait you most deplore in others?
Does being a selfish jerk count as a trait? My father and my ex-partner, Valerie Robinson, think they can just walk into my life and mess up everything. They don’t apologize; they don’t even care. They just make messes and I’m the one that has to clean up. It would have been a lot easier for me if Val had just stayed dead after I dropped her off that bridge in Thailand. But Val never does what she’s told, even when she’s being told by a bullet to the chest.

8. What is your motto?
I never had a motto until I started working for Carrie Mae—they have quite a few little sayings. Most of them come from the founder – Carrie Mae Robart, she was a tobacco heiress, who turned down her father’s money to start Carrie Mae Cosmetics in her garage. She used to cross-stitch little sayings onto pillows. Currently, my favorite is, “Sunscreen, waterproof mascara, and a silenced .38 will take you just about anywhere you want to go in life.”

Find out what adventures Nikki is up to next in Glossed Cause!

Top Carrie Mae agent Nikki Lanier’s nemesis and ex-partner Val Robinson has returned from the dead and she wants Nikki’s help.  When Val said that Phillipe Lanier—Nikki’s long-absent father—had been kidnapped, Nikki dropped everything—friends, family, boyfriend, to fly to the rescue.  But soon Nikki realizes that her father’s kidnapping may not be what it seems and she may have just tanked her life for one of his ridiculous schemes. As Nikki and Val arrive in Amsterdam, Nikki realizes that if wants to her life back, she’s going to have to not only stop an international arms dealer, but convince her boyfriend, CIA Agent Z’ev Coralles, that she’s not the bad guy and that Carrie Mae isn’t a terrorist organization. But with Philippe refusing to be rescued, and an INTERPOL agent gunning for Val and Nikki, as well as making moves on Z’ev, Nikki is starting to doubt her own abilities. Can she do it, or is it a Glossed Cause?

PRE-ORDER GLOSSED CAUSE ON AMAZON!

Clues

by Bethany Maines

Recently, I’ve been working on the sequel to my murder mystery An Unseen Current.  While thematically not that different from my other books (a young person struggles with unusual circumstances while navigating the choppy waters of family, love, and friends), mysteries bring a special level of challenge to the mix.  For one thing, people expect clues.  Oh, there’s a dead body?  Well, writer, where are the clues?  Chop, chop! Produce the clues!

However, it’s not just about clues; it’s about when to reveal those clues.  Too early and readers are bored because they already solved it.  Too late and it seems like the author is cheating and wedging information to justify who the killer is at the last second.  Then, even if the writer does pop a clue in the right place, she can’t be too precious about it.  The author can’t present it on a silver platter with a neon arrow stating: Clue Here!!  To accomplish the correct where and when of clue placement requires a stronger outline than other genres.  And that means that I must do what every writer hates doing—not writing.

Outlining and the synopsis are vital to a successful book.  But they aren’t the FUN part of writing.  The fun part is churning out scenes and spending time with the made up people who populate my brain.  Outlining requires problem solving and all the leg work of deciding back stories and motivations and the literal who, what, when, where and why of who was murdered. (It was Professor Plumb in the Library with the Candlestick, in case you were wondering.)  But mostly it leaves me thinking: Are we there yet? What about now?  Can I start writing now?

Fortunately, the answer is getting closer to being yes.  So wish me luck as I work out the kinks of how the dead body ended up behind a bar in Anacortes.

You never know what’s beneath the surface.
When Seattle native Tish Yearly finds herself fired and evicted all in one afternoon, she knows she’s in deep water. Unemployed and desperate, the 26 year old ex-actress heads for the one place she knows she’ll be welcome – the house of her cantankerous ex-CIA agent grandfather, Tobias Yearly, in the San Juan Islands. And when she discovers the strangled corpse of Tobias’s best friend, she knows she’s in over her head. Tish is thrown head-long into a mystery that pits her against a handsome but straight-laced Sheriff’s Deputy, a group of eccentric and clannish local residents, and a killer who knows the island far better than she does. Now Tish must swim against the current, depending on her nearly forgotten acting skills and her grandfather’s spy craft, to con a killer and keep them both alive.

***

Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, Wild Waters, Tales from the City of Destiny and An Unseen Current.  You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.

Is “Author Fitness” an Oxymoron?

By Kay Kendall

Most writers now spend countless hours each day seated at their computers pouring words into their machines. Oh, for sure, a few rare birds do exist who live otherwise—British writer Graham Greene wrote his usual 500 words each day and then called it quits. Few of us are that disciplined, however, and besides, the literary pace has picked up considerably since Greene’s heyday (and more’s the pity).  

As Greene grew older, his daily word count even slid to 300 words. He said he couldn’t sit still longer than 90 minutes, comparing himself unfavorably to Joseph Conrad whose ability to sit and write for twelve hours at a stint was legendary.

Pity today’s poor authors. We no longer get the exercise that our predecessors did decades ago. After all, they pounded typewriter keys. Surely that burned up a few extra calories compared to the soft touch used on computer keys? And remember this—writers from the 1860s to the 1960s also had to fling their mechanical typewriter carriages when they reached the end of lines on their pages. Until electric computers were invented, there was that nice little workout too.  

Lately I’ve mused about the unhealthy life of a writer. Not only am I getting creakier as I sit for longer hours at a time, but also I’m reading that my lifespan is threatened if I sit too long each day. Health and fitness gurus are now encouraging everyone to stand up—and walk too, preferably—at least ten minutes out of each hour.

I think about doing that, but so far that’s not been added to my routine. If I’m really cooking on a chapter, I scarcely want to glance at the clock that’s telling me to stand up, walk around—heck, and even smell the roses, for all I know. At least when Graham Greene stopped after writing his required words, he then would imbibe too much alcohol and consort with willing women who were not his wife. That was some kind of incentive to get moving, I guess, at least for him.

I may not get up and move—or even wiggle in my chair—each hour that I am writing, but I do exercise at least five times a week. I use a stationary bicycle and recently added an elliptical machine to my workout routine. Once upon a time I was proud of these exertions. I was exercising more than the suggested number of hours each week. Yet that’s not good enough now. I am still sitting for up to four hours at a stretch each day. My bottom gets numb and sometimes—like now—my back aches a wee bit too.

So, I guess I’m ready for a new addition to my fitness routine. Either that, or I could adopt part of Graham Greene’s pattern and take up heavy drinking. Now there is a topic for another blog one day—Let us consider the great number of writers who were alcoholics.

 

 

Kay Kendall’s historical mysteries capture the spirit and turbulence of the 1960s, and her titles show she's a Bob Dylan buff too. DESOLATION ROW (2013) and RAINY DAY WOMEN (2015) are in her Austin Starr Mystery series. Austin is a 22-year-old Texas bride who ends up on the frontlines of societal change, learns to cope, and turns amateur sleuth….Kay lives in Texas with her Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. In her former life as a PR executive, Kay’s projects won international awards.