New Year, New Moments

by Bethany Maines

Several years ago I realized that over the course of a year I would collect an assortment of what I would call one-off photos. Photos of memories that I didn’t want to forget, but that didn’t necessarily rate printing out and hanging on the wall.  My solution was to create a “Year in Review” photo album.  The genius of this plan is every single time I or someone else says, “When did we do that one thing in that one place?” I can look up the answer.  The problem with creating an album that tracks all the mundanities of the year is that you can see at a glance just how boring you were in a given year. 

And in looking at my most recent batch of pictures it’s pretty clear that my 2015 was pretty boring.

I blame my daughter.  My husband and I spent 2015 repeating the new parent mantra: We’re making it.  Yeah, we’re totally making it.  Nope, no, no, not making it.  No, wait, we’re back.  We’re making it. 

Any life where the bar for success is set to “just making it” doesn’t leave a lot of energy for doing new things or going new places.  Now, I know, I know, I’m supposed to be reveling in the day to day joys of parenthood and treasuring every tiny moment with my adorable baby, blah blah blah.  You know what reveling in the day to day joys of parenthood does NOT include?  A vacation.  Don’t get me wrong, I love each and every one of the the2000 pictures of my daughter I snapped over the last year, but the banner event of several months was literally a walk in the park.  Which, while lovely, is not the same as actually going somewhere or doing something.

So as with every other person who has reached the end of the year and realized that their life hasn’t been heading in the direction they would like it to, I made a resolution.  In my case, it’s to seek out new experiences and get a few pictures of things that aren’t my daughter.  Which is why I kicked off the year by testing out all of my waterproof make-up and participated in a Polar Plunge into the Pacific Ocean.  Sound cold?  It was.  But now I have a new memory and a new photo for the 2016 book.  

Bethany Maines is the author of the Carrie Mae Mysteries, 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.

A Re-Awakening

by Marjorie Brody

The New Year arrived for me in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. A live band, champagne and chocolate covered strawberries accompanied a balloon drop at midnight. The cruise allowed me to escape telephone calls and the demands of emails, meetings, and deadlines. I took a speed boat ride

through the rain forest, climbed Mayan ruins, and swam in gorgeous blue, calm water. I relaxed and gained a fresh perspective on my goals for the coming year. As a guest on a cruise ship, I was treated like royalty.

The vacation reminded me of how fortunate I am—purely by accident of my birth—to belong to the privileged of this world. Even though I have at times experienced religious prejudice, my life is blessed. I live in a country where, even as a female, I can receive an education, earn a living, marry the person of my choice, and raise the number of children I choose. My cruise experience, and the countries I visited, reinforced my awareness of the difference between the haves and the have nots. Years ago I wrote a poem about the divide between the privileged and underprivileged classes in our country. I pulled it out to reread and I'm sharing it with you below.

The New Year and its tradition of making resolutions coincided for me on this cruise and I decided that this year, my commitment wouldn't be to write more regularly or submit more often. My resolution wouldn’t be to lose weight or exercise three times a week. My resolution would push me to think outside of my own little world and do something to make the world a better place for those less fortunate than I.

May the New Year be good to you.


SIDE-BY-SIDE IN AMERICA: THE PLAYGROUND


Twisted gray weeds wrap around
rusted spikes
                                                      Manicured grass, plush, green
                                                      and well styled
where once the swings stood
                                                       under brilliant colored poles
Rats and roaches scuffle
among bottles, cans, and paper
finding their way to
                                                      Children laughing,
                                                      singing rhymes and shouting,
                                                      playing tag and statues
Termites on an endless feast
gorging themselves on
                                                      “See-saw Margery Daw”
Mosquitoes and flies hovering
around excrement and vomit
                                                      Uniformed nannies strolling flowered paths
                                                      pushing their carriages,
                                                      and gossiping sweetly
                                                      And the friendly policeman
                                                      tips his cap as they pass
a drunk beaten and robbed
lying under the bushes
blood inching down his mouth
and ear—his temple pulsing
                                                       the heavy thunder of roller skates
                                                       on cement
its redness turned brown by
an equal part dirt
                                                       “Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall
                                                       Humpty Dumpty had a great . . .”
“Help me,” faintly come
                                                        babies cooing as they have their
                                                        tummies satisfied with
                                                        bottles full of warm white
clouds turning black
as the chill of night sets in
                                                        And as the sun seeks the horizon
                                                        the nannies call the children
                                                        home
                                                        to an unappreciated dinner
                                                        and lush, warm beds
                                                        And the children laugh, and
                                                        run
                                                        “ . . . all the way, all the way home”
with the faint voice calling
                                                        “three, six, nine, I resign.”


Marjorie Brody is an award-winning author and Pushcart Prize Nominee. Her short stories appear in literary magazines and the Short Stories by Texas Authors Anthology and four volumes of the Short Story America Anthology. Her debut psychological suspense novel, TWISTED, was awarded an Honorable Mention at the Great Midwest Book Festival and won the Texas Association of Authors Best Young Adult Fiction Book Award. TWISTED is available in digital and print at http://tinyurl.com/cv15why or http://tinyurl.com/bqcgywl. Marjorie invites you to visit her at www.marjoriespages.com. 

A Fish Tale

On Friday I got a text from my youngest daughter. “Mom, we owe my math teacher a fish.” 

That didn’t sound good. 

“What?” was my witty response. 

“I killed the class fish.” 

“How?” 

I waited for an answer. And waited. 

Just how had my daughter murdered the class fish? 

And why? 

Had it embezzled? Stolen fish flakes? Angered her? 

I like killing people. Such is the nature of a mystery writer. 

Pets are another matter. 

Why had she killed the fish? 

Turns out she tripped over the cord to the fish tank, pulled the tank from its table, soaked herself in fish water, and jettisoned poor Sebastian into the wild blue yonder. 

For the record, my daughter’s name is not Grace. 

So, what can be said about the death of a fish? 

Sebastian was just swimming along when an act of God (or not-Grace) ended his life. 

I asked not-Grace if there was a moral to the story. 

“Watch out for cords?” she suggested. 

There has to be something more. 

Maybe it's that life is precious. And fleeting. And unpredictable. 

You can be swimming along and then out of the blue you’re flying through the wild blue yonder on your way to the big pond in the sky. 

Or perhaps the lesson is that your feet look like prunes when you spend a whole day wearing wet tennis shoes. 

Perhaps, there is no moral. Perhaps, killing people on the page has me reading too much into the death of a fish. Perhaps not. 

It's a mystery...

Julie Mulhern is the USA Today bestselling author of The Country Club Murders. 

She is a Kansas City native who grew up on a steady diet of Agatha Christie. She spends her spare time whipping up gourmet meals for her family, working out at the gym and finding new ways to keep her house spotlessly clean--and she's got an active imagination. Truth is--she's an expert at calling for take-out, she grumbles about walking the dog and the dust bunnies under the bed have grown into dust lions. 

Her next book, Clouds in My Coffee, releases May 10th.

New Year's Resolutions - Can I Keep Them?

New Year’s Resolutions – Can I Keep Them? by Debra H. Goldstein

2016 has arrived!  Anticipation of the new year has faded into pleasant memories of the ball dropping in Times Square, friends blowing noisemakers, popping champagne corks, and children peering around the stairwell to see grown-ups partying.  For writers, this is the time when excitement and happiness is replaced by the fear of keeping our resolutions.  I tried to keep mine simple this year, but I’m going to share my writer’s resolutions with you:

1) Write every day when possible – I’ve been a hit and miss writer.  I wrote when I had blog deadlines, when the muse moved me, or when I had a deadline.  Unfortunately, those days were few and far between with the result that since I became serious about writing two years ago, I’ve wasted a lot of time.  I envy the production of those who force themselves to write daily either to a word or page count or simply until they see some words on the page.

2) Don’t envy other writers – Envy is a green-eyed form of jealously.  Rather than envy them, join them by doing the work to make yourself equally accomplished.

3) Continue to learn – Read, Listen, Observe – the day you stop learning is the day they bury you.

4) Be humble – Dance for joy when something is published but don’t forget to count how many rejections you’ve received, too.  Remember, every story or book published had a lot of people who helped you along the way – whether by teaching you, offering words of encouragement, being a sounding board for gripes and ideas, or opening a door for you.

5) Extend a hand to others – you may never be a mid-lister or a NY Times author, but you can be a human being.  The only way you got this far was that others helped you so pay it back by paying it forward.

I hope I can stick to these and to one more personal one:

1) Be kind, considerate, thoughtful and loving to your family and friends…..writing isn’t everything, but they are.

Any resolutions on your end you’d like to share?

Sparkle Abbey on Downton Abbey

by Sparkle Abbey

Downton Abbey’s final season launched this past week and so we couldn’t let this major event pass without a nod to this highly acclaimed British drama.

You might remember we did a contest a while back with all the differences between Downton Abbey and Sparkle Abbey. And now, our latest book Downton Tabby offers even more entertaining comparisons. Check out our "The Pawleys: A brief episode in the British family hiss-tory of Lady Toria Cash, the feline fatale of Downton Tabby."

No spoilers here if you haven’t watched the first installment in this final season of Downton, but you can bet there will be butlers and maids, elegant frocks, fancy dinner parties, secrets revealed and problems in love, some below stairs and some in the drawing room.

Why do we (and millions of viewers) love this show so much? The twisted plots? The intrigues? The beautiful costuming? The “no-they-did-not-just-do-that” writing?

We believe the bottom line is whether it’s a book or a movie, and whether the setting is a cozy, quirky small town, a galaxy far, far away or a castle in Yorkshire; we all continue to watch or continue to read because of the characters.

The characters in Downton Abbey have become our friends and we want to know what will happen to them next. The stoic Carson, the sometimes clueless Lord Grantham, the forward-thinking Isobel Crawley, and the just-can’t-get-a-break Lady Edith. And then poor Anna and Mr. Bates who give new meaning to “when bad things happen to good people” adage. Plus the evil Thomas who can always be counted on to shake things up. And the best, the very best, Lady Violet, the Dowager, who routinely delivers the zingers we love.

Here are a few:

"At my age, one must ration one's excitement."

Mrs. Crawley: "I take that as a compliment."
Countess Violet: "I must've said it wrong."

Dr. Clarkson: You want me to lie?
Countess Violet: Lie is so unmusical a word.

Cora: "I hate to go behind Robert's back."
Countess Violet: "That is a scruple no successful wife can afford."

"There's nothing simpler than avoiding people you don't like. Avoiding one's friends, that's the real test."

"I don't dislike him. I just don't like him. Which is quite different."

"All this unbridled joy has given me quite an appetite."

"Of course it would happen to a foreigner. No Englishman would dream of dying in someone else's house."

"Principles are like prayers; noble, of course, but awkward at a party."

"Don't be defeatist, dear, it's very middle class."

And our favorite:

"Vulgarity is no substitute for wit."

What do you think? Do you watch the show? And, if so, do you agree with us that it’s the characters that have made the show such a success?

We’d like to hear your thoughts?

Comment below to be in the drawing for a signed copy of Downton Tabby.

Sparkle Abbey is the pseudonym of authors Mary Lee Woods and Anita Carter. They write a national bestselling pet-themed mystery series set in Laguna Beach. The first book in the series Desperate Housedogs, an Amazon Mystery Series bestseller and Barnes & Noble Nook #1 bestseller, was followed by several other “sassy and fun” books in the series. The most recent installment is Downton Tabby and up next is Raiders of the Lost Bark. www.SparkleAbbey.com

Facing the New Year

By Kay Kendall

Even though we are now six days into 2016, I still feel compelled to write something about entering a new year. On the other hand, maybe this is trite. To resolve the issue, I did a quick online search of topics to blog about…and here is the advice that jumped out at me.

What are people afraid of? Do what you can to help allay those fears.

So I am back to where I began. I’ll call it “Facing Down the New Year without Fear and Trembling.”

 

After all, that topic haunted me as the last days of December dwindled down. The old year had held so many horrors on so many levels. You name it. Whether it was personal, national, or international, things were danged scary. Whereas every other year I had welcomed the coming one with hope and delight, looking at 2016 looming on the calendar caused anxiety and shudders. I felt particularly snake bitten because of

a) My husband’s cancer treatments in 2015 (Will the cancer return?)

b) America’s decreasing harmony (Look at our national and state electoral processes)

c) International tensions high as the Cuban missile crisis (As a kid, I assumed it would sort itself out.)

 

Cursing snake bites, I walked back from the abyss' edge and quit scaring myself to death. The Internet asserts some of you are experiencing similar fears, so I'll share thoughts that helped calm me down.

 

First, on the international and national political stages, issues indeed are piling up, but that does not mean that we will not keep on muddling through, crisis after crisis. Most of the time we do. Just think how news organizations catastrophize everything so we will pay attention to them, and that this goes on twenty-four hours a day every day, ceaselessly. No wonder our stomachs are aflutter with fear. Some politicians also actively try to scare us into their ways of thinking. Calmer voices are difficult to hear above the fray.

I used to be a news junky, and I guess in a way I still am, but I simply cannot bear to listen to politicians and news pundits screaming that the sky is falling for one reason or another all the time anymore. When my head churns with thoughts of terrorism, mass immigration, climate change and the like, I turn the television off and do something soothing. Like petting the dog. Going for a walk. Remembering that most things I’ve worried about in my life have never come to pass. No, really. If you don’t believe me, then list your own old fears and see exactly which ones came true. Not many, if your life is anything like mine.

Now with some mental toughness and practice, I have set my mind firmly in the half-full position. I push aside the notion that the cup could also be half-empty. The year ahead will be like most—as full of ups as it is of downs. I focus on the ups, and keep on truckin’ right past the downs. So what if I have to reset to half-full every few days. I can do it. Stay positive, that is. And if I can, you surely can too.

Most of all, I remember that all we ever have is this very moment we are living in. If I am too anxious to enjoy it, then I’m wasting a perfectly good life. We all can train our minds to be happy. In a serious pinch, then we can follow this maxim – Fake it til you make it. I once heard a perfectly great sermon at my Methodist church on that very topic.

~~~~~~~

Kay Kendall’s historical mysteries capture the spirit and turbulence of the 1960s. 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’s degrees in Russian history and language help ground her tales in the Cold War, and her titles show she's a Bob Dylan buff too. 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.

So How is Your 2016 Going?

Mine is starting fine. I've learned through the many years that I've been on earth that my attitude has a lot to do with how things are going. Of course, I have my frustrations. Hubby and I both are feeling our age which has made some things we used to enjoy doing now impossible like taking long trips on airplanes, dancing, driving into and through big cities.

However, we've made up for it in other ways. If we really want to visit someone who lives somewhere the driving will be difficult, we ask the daughter who lives closes to us to do the driving. She loves to drive and it gives her a break from all she does as a preacher's wife.

Instead of dancing, we enjoy watching all kinds of movies and TV series together with the aid or our Roku.

My biggest joy is spending time with family--and we have a big one. Lots of grands and great-grands to enjoy.

And I'm still able and enjoy writing and reading.

At the end of 2015 one of my publisher put out a list of which books did best: http://otpblog.blogspot.com/2015/12/otps-most-popular-books-in-2015.html
Two older books in the Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery series ended up on that list.

As a Christmas gift, I offered a free Kindle copy of either of my series to 25 readers, and I'd like to offer the choice of one of my series to anyone on this list, either the Rocky Bluff P.D. series or my Deputy Tempe Crabtree series. I'll send a Kindle copy of your choice to the first 5 who contact me via email. mmeredith24@ocsnet.net

You can check our the books on my website; http://fictionforyou.com/

Wishing you all a great year and plenty of good reading.

Marilyn who also writes as F. M. Meredith

Here are the latest in each series:

How I read what I read by Dru Ann

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

There’s no rhyme or reason as to the book I pick up to read unless it’s a new debut series. Since I don’t have the added deadline of writing a review, I can take my time in reading and become involved in a book. My goal is to review at least 4 books per month with at least one a traditional mystery since most of the books I read are cozies.

How do I pick which debut series book to read?

It will come down to several factors and the top will be if I know the author and this can be attributed to if I have chatted with them via social media, if I met them at a reader/fan convention, or if I have met them at a book signing. Those connection put the author one up on others as I’m curious as to their writing style and their voice.

Next will be the cover. Yes, I’m very visual and the cover is always the first thing I see when I discover a new-to me book. I love covers that allude to what’s inside and there are several publishers that have some of the best covers out there. One thing I do dislike are covers with too much information on the front. The point is to get me to turn to the back of the book.

Next up is the blurb/synopsis/back of the book. Give it to me straight. Give me that teaser that tells me what are between the pages, yet will spurn me to open up the book and read the first few pages. If at an online retailer, it will be that synopsis that will have me clicking to read a few pages.

Next is my visit to the author’s website and please, please, let it be up-to-date. If I don’t see your new book on your website, that will discourage me to go further. I should also see a little bit more about what the book is about, more than what I find on the back cover.

And because this is how I reach out to authors to do a guest post on my blog, (dru’s book musings), please have your contact information on your blog, particularly your email address. I really do not like filling out those forms.

How do I pick which book to read on a regular basis? Sometimes it depends on my mood.

I have my auto-buy authors that I automatically will put on hold any book that I’m reading to read their book when it comes out. My friends know who this author is. There are other authors and I just realized that half are cozy authors and the other half run the spectrum between suspense, thriller and traditional mystery authors.

If I want to read a thriller, I have my tried and true authors that I’ll read. I’m not one for experimenting with new thriller authors. Although, if I meet them at a reader/fan conference or a book signing, I might read their book.

I’m much more flexible when it comes to suspense books, and again I do have my tried and true authors that I will read. And yes, if I met them at a reader/fan conference, I will give them a chance.

Then there are the mysteries – either traditional or cozies. I read what I like and I’m more willing to try a new-to-me author in this genre, but again, there are some books I will not read due to the subject matter contained within the pages.

Sometimes on that rare occasion, I will pick a book by the “eeny, meeny, miny, moe” method.

I wish I could read all the books that I want to read, but it’s not possible. So I do the best I can to enjoy those books that I do read.

How many books do I read? On average I read 15-20 books per month. That is actually less than I did previously. And according to Pew Research, in 2015 fewer Americans are reading print books (72% vs. 76% in 2014). However, I’m ahead of the game as Americans read, on average, 12 books in the past year.

Anyway, that’s how I pick books to read.

Do you have a similar or different way of choosing which book you are reading?