Loud Neighbors

Bulletproof Mascara Villain: Val Robinson

I was kept awake last night by Nikki who is flirting with her ex-boyfriend.  This is a problem that I know Nikki is love with her current boyfriend – Z’ev.  Why is she behaving this way? What could drive her into the arms of another man? How do you explain this kind of behavior, young lady! The real problem, of course, is that writers are crazy and we listen to all the voices in our head and sometimes the voices are quite loud.  In this, case the edits for my third Carrie Mae Mystery are demanding to be heard and dealt with.

In general, the edits are going quite well. Each edit is adding the layer of depth and realism that really make a book sing.  It’s like adding jewelry to an outfit; a good round of edits can make the entire thing sparkle.  Unfortunately, some edits can cause a chain reaction changes through-out the book.  Suddenly an author can find herself questioning the timeline (does this scene need to be moved to Tuesday?), the continuity (were they eating peach or blackberry pie before?), and worst of all – would the character really do that?

All of my characters are quite real to me. I have entire dossiers about their past.  There are pictures. There are idiosyncrasies and favorite swear words and moral codes and lines that each character wouldn’t cross. But the gray areas, such as, “Would you kiss your childhood sweetheart in the moonlight on a warm summer’s night?” are sometimes harder to negotiate. 

But making the big decisions, like who gets to kiss who, is why I get paid the not so big bucks.  Although, if you want to find out if Nikki gives into temptation you’ll just have to pick up a copy of High-Calber Concealer in November 2015.

Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie Mae Mystery series and Tales from the City of Destiny. You can also view the Carrie Mae youtube video or catch up with her on Twitter and Facebook.

Sailor Gutzler: Victim, Survivor, Heroine, Little Girl

by Marjorie Brody

Here’s my fantasy. The setting is the interior of a Piper PA 34 twin-engine plane on a drizzly, cold, January evening. The roar of the engines change sound, maybe even go silent. The  chatter of three young girls dwindles as the strain in the adult voices forward in the cabin intensify. 

Life writes this story. The plane falls, smacks trees, flips and crashes to a stop. But Life—like a good author of fiction—must always increase the peril. 

So life throws these obstacles at the seven-year-old female survivor. 

• kill everyone else so she will be alone, without guidance or support
• break some of her bones
• clad her in shorts and short-sleeve shirt
• drop the temperature below freezing
• add rain
• put her in unfamiliar terrain, deny her a compass, provide no identifiable path
• maximize darkness by surrounding the downed plane with trees, acres of trees
• prevent her from using a lit stick to guide her way out
• take away her shoes
• take away a sock while at it
• place briar bushes in her path, make sure she must walk around and through them 
• scrape her legs and arms with sharp underbrush and fallen tree limbs
• add a deep creek bed
• make her trudge through this obstacle course for at least 3/4 miles before finding the nearest house

Good writers know the stronger the obstacles, the stronger the hero will need to be. We don’t know how Sailor will overcome the traumas she’s experienced. While she is a real-life heroine, she is still a little girl. How she handles her losses will partially be influenced by how those around her react. If her composure and her courage are any indication, Sailor will find a way to overcome. And even though she weaves threads of sadness into the chapters she writes of her future, my hope is she can create a happy ever after. Best wishes, Sailor!

Marjorie Brody is an award-winning author and Pushcart Prize Nominee. 

Her short fiction has appeared on stage, in literary magazines and anthologies. Her psychological suspense, TWISTED, received an Honorable Mention at the Great Midwest Book Festival and won the Texas Association of Authors 2014 Best Young Adult Fiction Award.

Snarky in the Suburbs Visits the Stiletto Gang!

Today I am thrilled to welcome Snarky in the Suburbs to the Stiletto Gang. Snarky’s new book, Snarky in the Suburbs Trouble in Texas, will be available on January 16^th.

I first met Snarky, aka Sherry Kuehl, through her blog – a blog that makes you snort your morning coffee out your nose. Then I met her in person and found her as sensible and warm and snarky as her words. Now I get to introduce her to you!

What inspired the creation of Snarky?

Snarky was inspired by every PTA meeting I've had to sit through. Think about it - is there a richer cast of characters than the slice of life we see at parent meetings?  I've also moved a lot and it always intrigued me that each new school my kids went to it was essentially the same moms, the same issues and always one family with his and her Range Rovers.

We loved it when Snarky took down the evil overlords of the PTA in your last book, tell us about what happens in book two.

 

In Snarky in the Suburbs Trouble in Texas - the main character, Wynn Butler, goes home to Texas to visit her family and discovers her mother has become an entrepreneur and opened up a cupcake bakery that seems to be doing double duty as a halfway house for economically battered Junior League dropouts.

If that’s not enough to make Wynn want to turn tail and run home, her mom, is hell bent on convincing her to “heed the call of Jesus” and come to the aid of a woman that made Wynn miserable in high school - Sara Beth Bishop. And by aid Wynn’s mother means concoct a plan to exact epic revenge on Sara Beth’s lying, cheating, spray tanning, money stealing ex-husband and his new wife, snob-of-the-millennium, Yale Greenly.

Why should people read your books?

I hope women read my books as a humorous escape from the realities of life. I know personally with parenting in the teen trenches and dealing with aging parent issues all I want some days is to just to sit down, put my feet up, grab a book and laugh.

What's your take on yoga pants outside of yoga class?

Yoga pants are the enemy. I fear ten years from now a large percentage of America females will no longer remember how to button and zip a pair pants. Thank God for texting or many women would be experiencing thumb atrophy due to lack of use from only wearing elastic waist clothing.

What’s next for Snarky?

Inspired by my amazing and talented mystery writing friends I want to try a Snarky Detective book. I've got a plot rattling around in my head where the Snarky character (Wynn) is at a dance competition in Branson with her daughter and someone gets killed. Branson and dance moms - to me that sounds like a whole lot of crazy.

Sherry Kuehl writes the popular blog snarkyinthesuburbs.com, which was optioned by ABC for film and television. She’s the author of two books: Snarky in the Suburbs Back to School and Snarky in the Suburbs Trouble in Texas. Ms. Kuehl can also be seen on morning television dispensing “21^st century advice with an attitude” with her “Dear Snarky” segment and she has a weekly column in the Kansas City Star that features her unique take on life.

Her background is in broadcast journalism. She’s an award-winning producer and journalist having worked for CNN, The Wall Street Journal, Public Television and Cox News.

Who Dat? Dat the Indian Chief! - Where Does a Story Idea Come From? - Part One

Who Dat? Dat the Indian Chief! - Where Does a Story Idea Come From? – Part One by Debra H. Goldstein 
 (Part Two will appear on Wednesday, January 21)

Ideas?  Where do your story ideas come from?  After people ask me whether I miss my former job (https://debrahgoldstein.wordpress.com - December 22, 2014 - "It's Not Always a Mystery"), they invariably ask me how I come up with the ideas for the stories and books I write.  My answer is simple:  I pull them out of the air, dreams, contest or submission prompts, sentences that stick in my mind, observing a moment of human behavior that results in brainstorming, or finding an interesting fact when researching.  The key is to find the twist that distinguishes my story idea from those of other writers.

Who Dat? Dat the Indian Chief! is a short story that grew out of research connected to a submission call for New Orleans related stories to be published in the February 2014 Mardi Gras Murder anthology.  Having visited New Orleans, I knew I could write about food, parades, and Hurricane Katrina, but so could everyone else.  To find a new twist, I researched different possible topics, but nothing struck my fancy.  Then, in the middle of reading about scheduled Krewe events, I saw a reference to secret Mardi Gras Indian parades. More research revealed traditions and elaborate costumes tied to these below the radar African-American Indian parades that fascinated me.

I immediately knew my story would involve characters participating in a Mardi Gras Indian parade in

New Orleans, but when?  At the historic time the parades began or in a more modern time period?  I also had to find a way to make my tale more than a recitation about parades and beads.

As I strove to find a different angle, two thoughts or themes kept running through my mind, Hurricane Katrina and the idea of redemption.  The problem was that they didn’t seem to go together.
It wasn’t until I discovered the human spirit that brought all parades and celebrations back into existence after their suspension because of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina that I realized how to link the two.  From that moment, the story flowed out of me. The result is one of my very favorite and most meaningful short stories – Who Dat? Dat the Indian Chief! 

Who Dat? Dat the Indian Chief was featured in the Mardi Gras Murder short story anthology in February 2014.

Cameron Diaz and Women’s Liberation

 by Kay Kendall                              

                                                                               

I don’t know about you, but I feel relieved. Various TV morning shows and a plethora of online sources that follow celebrities’ doings say I can check one thing off my worry list. Movie actress Cameron Diaz “is not going to die an old maid.”

Really? In this day and age, wouldn’t you think that opinion was old hat? What is this—the 1950s?

Lest you taunt me for being frivolous, I assure you my musings are quite serious about the wedding of Ms. Diaz (42) and rocker Benji Madden (35). For the last two years I’ve thought a good deal about how far we women have come, baby, as I developed my mystery set against a women’s liberation background. Rainy Day Women takes place in 1969. Those were early days in what is known now as Second Wave Feminism. (First Wave took place in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, keying on legal issues, primarily women’s right to vote).

From the vantage point of 2015, looking back at the sixties, you could assume the women’s movement had changed many attitudes about appropriate behavior for women. And then you slam into nasty offhand comments about poor Cameron Diaz. Believe me, this actress is no wallflower. Her dalliances with celebrity boyfriends are the stuff of legend. To name only a few, there were heart throb Justin Timberlake, Oscar winner Jared Leto, New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez, and even P. Diddy  AKA Sean Combs.

With that dating background, Cameron Diaz needs a better commentary on her marriage that took place on January 5. She deserves to be compared to Warren Beatty, famous playboy who settled down with wife Annette Benning when he was all of 55. They wed, had children, and are evidently living happily ever after. When that happened, no one proclaimed he had been saved from a life of sad bachelorhood.

This blog topic was thrust upon me when a longtime pal shared her ire over media jabs at Ms. Diaz. My friend said, “A woman has many other ways to fulfill herself or prove her worth than through marriage. Why hasn’t everyone gotten beyond that narrow, old-fashioned opinion by now?”

Why indeed? Great question.

When I began writing Rainy Day Women, my intent was to show the kinds of issues bedeviling women 45 years ago. They flooded into consciousness raising groups with senses of despair over choices offered them in life—and then left those meetings emboldened to follow their own paths. Despite being called unfeminine or derelict of their familial duties, they set out to take control of their own destinies.

Clearly there are still some people who want women to remain in traditional roles no matter what. Female emancipation still scares many.

My husband likes to tell about the time he was traveling in Asia for business and a male executive delivered a stunning view. “There are three sexes in the world,” the man said. “There are men, women, and American women.” My husband did not find that amusing. Rather, he shakes his head when he tells the story, disturbed at such prejudice.

Okay then, I will now proudly place myself in that third category. If being an American woman means I stand up for my rights as a person then, yes, I will do that.

And as for Cameron Diaz, who has often gone on record as being uninterested in marriage, I would tell her this: “Honey, you just go right on living as you choose. Unmarried, married, or divorced—it is all up to you.” In short, you go, girl! 

*******   

Kay Kendall set her debut novel, DESOLATION ROW--AN AUSTIN STARR MYSTERY in 1968. The sequel RAINY DAY WOMEN (June 2015) shows her amateur sleuth Austin Starr proving her best friend didn't murder women’s liberation activists in Seattle and Vancouver. A fan of historical mysteries, Kay wants to do for the 1960s what novelist Jacqueline Winspear accomplishes for England in the 1930s–write atmospheric mysteries that capture the spirit of the age. Kay is also an award-winning international PR executive who lives in Texas with her husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Terribly allergic to the bunnies, she loves them anyway! Her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan buff too. 

 *******

Slowing Down, Yes I am by Marilyn Meredith

People are always asking where I get my energy. The answer is, I'd like to know where to get some of it back.

Yes, I am slowing down, which I suppose is to be expected when you pass the 80 milestone.

I must say inside I still feel young, but when I have to choose between shopping or staying home, staying home usually wins. I do still grocery shop every week but shopping for fun is a thing of the past. Oh I am still tempted when I got into Kohl's to look at the clothes--though I certainly don't need any.

I never wore stilettos and I gave up high heels around the age of 60 plus. I still like good-looking shoes, but they need to be comfortable.

Going to every Left Coast Crime and Bouchercon once was a must. Hubby and I traveled all over the country to attend and visited many states we'd never have even though to going to otherwise. While Mayhem in the Midlands was still going strong, we went to everyone of those too. (How I miss that one and all the friends I made there.) We also squeezed in a few others at times, like Killer Nashville and Love is Murder.

Last year, I attended Left Coast Crime because it was in Monterey and a friend drove us.

One I haven't missed for years is the Public Safety Writers Association's conference in Las Vegas, also driveable, and I'm going to be one of the presenters in July. Right now I have no plans to attend any others. The big reason is flying and rushing from one place to another to change planes is not something I want to do anymore. Another reason is the expense.

What I haven't given up is writing two books a year. My next Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery, Violent Departures is scheduled to debut in April, and I'm busy working on the next still untitled Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery. It isn't as easy to do this as it once was, but I'm not giving up yet--I love my characters to much to do that.

I will be doing some closer to home events, interacting with readers is always something I enjoy.

And remember folks, I have a huge family--four adult kids, 18 grandkids and 15 great-grands--and the number keeps growing. Spending time with family is always top priority.

Is there anything you've decided to give up? Or are you all still full of energy? What are you looking forward to doing most in 2015?

Marilyn who is also known as F.M. Meredith.

Recreation - or Re-create?

Yesterday I hit send on an email to my editor with my fifth Tourist Trap book. I sweated the deadline on this puppy as I had hip replacement surgery mid November. Coming into December, I had about 15,000 words done out of 72000 I ended up with to finish.

 I worried about finishing.

I worried that even if I finished, would the story come together. 

I worried I couldn't write on my laptop in my living room.

But it came together. I love the story and the role one of my characters, Aunt Jackie is taking on. I love watching the characters come alive and the little whispers I get when I read an interaction. Like seeing a couple notice each other and start to fall in love.

My next book I'm doing really bad things to a really nice person. And frankly, I can't wait to get started. (insert evil laugh here.)

South Cove is becoming more and more real to me as I write each book.

Today I started a long overdue novella to finish off The Council series. Then I'll be back in South Cove, causing havoc with my character's lives. 

But right now, I'm taking a mini break and relaxing. Time to heat up some apple cider and eat junk food because I finished a book.

Again.

Lynn

Do you love series? If you haven't started The Tourist Trap Mysteries, Guidebook to Murder is on sale for $1.99 Check out the book that hit the NYT's list this summer.

Buy here - Kindle or Nook

Seeds

by Linda Rodriguez

I’m working on a new novel project that I find very exciting. So as we begin this new year, I thought I’d give you a taste of the original journal entry that led to this project. These words were seeds that have grown into a sapling that’s on its way to major tree. As is the way of seeds, these seeds don’t look much like the sapling and will resemble the grown tree even less, but this is what the absolute beginning looks like.

Living on the surface, focusing on externals and other people’s needs, instead of the internal world of images, ideas, imagination, that is my home when working well. And it takes some time after an external surface period with others to regain that internal world and its productive state for creative work.

I wonder if Persephone encountered something similar in trying to adjust to her mother’s above-ground world and her abductor-husband’s dark underworld of the dead, cycling between life and death, between worlds, bringing life to the world above when she came and taking it away when she left. I wonder if she did the same to Hades’ kingdom, bringing light and life when she came and taking it back when she left for the surface. If so, no wonder he kidnapped and trapped her.

Thinking about it that way, you can almost have sympathy for Hades. That longing for light and life and warmth that he has never known because the moment he touches a mortal, no matter how alive and beautiful, she turns stiff and cold with all the life and life and substance gone. After centuries of that, he would become desperate enough to chance the anger of the other gods, even that of Zeus himself, to have his own bit of life, warmth, light, beauty.

Imagine an epic poem written about Hades’ abduction of  Persephone, the angry grief of Demeter, the trick with the pomegranate when Zeus forces a truce, and Persephone weaving back and forth between life and death, the sunlit world above and the realm in darkness below the surface, mother and captor/husband, always bringing light and life below and trailing vapors of darkness and death above, never truly one or the other since Hades tricked her into that bite of pomegranate, never completely alive or dead, always outside and forced to mediate between two tyrants who would destroy their worlds and all within if they lost her.

Perhaps after eons, someone, perhaps Prometheus on his eagle-high rock, tells her that this all works only because she unconsciously assented to it. If she decides to consciously say no to the deal, she can choose to be one or the other, her mother’s or her husband’s. “Or neither?” she asks. He doesn’t know, that would take some special working, to make a choice that included neither Demeter nor Hades, as it would probably bring about the destruction of both worlds.

So Persephone begins to spend her time in each world searching for someone who can show her a way out of the dilemma she’s impaled upon. And this will mark the beginning of her coming to truly know each world and its people, out from under the powerful shadows of mother and husband. In the process, she comes to love and value each world and those in it and to find that she can be free only with the probable destruction of each creation.

I’m writing a novel and not an epic poem, and many other characters have and are coming into play. But this little fragment from my journal was the seed from which this much-transformed book is growing.

I hope you plant a lot of wonderful seeds—and even some strange ones—in this new year.