New author on the block

 By Debra Sennefelder

Hello Stiletto Gang!

This is an awesome way to start the new year. I’m so thrilled to be a new member of the Stiletto Gang.

I’ve spent weeks trying to compose the perfect first blog post and I’ve come up empty. I finally realized I was putting way too much pressure on myself because the perfect blog post doesn’t exist. When I finally let go of what I thought I should do, I came up with an idea. Actually, it’s a freakin’ brilliant idea (yeah, I’m biased) and a reminder that I kind of know myself very well.

I love lists. I love seeing everything I need to do nicely organized vertically. There’s nothing more satisfying than having a list of tasks to complete and marking them off one by one. So, with this snippet of information I decided to write up a list of things you should know about me since we’ll be hanging out together once a month. It’s kind of like a little cheat sheet of who Debra Sennefelder is.

Ready?

This list isn’t in any particular order.

1 – I’m the author of two mystery series and my publisher is Kensington. I write the Food Blogger and the Resale Boutique mystery series.

2 – I have a book releasing tomorrow!!! (I’m really excited, can you tell?) SILENCED IN SEQUINS is the second book in the Resale Boutique mystery series.

3 – I’m a former food blogger.

4 – I have a writing newish companion  and she rides shotgun. Her name is Connie and she’s a six-month-old Shih-Tzu.

5 – I love to exercise. Yes, seriously. It helps me clear my head and allows for recipe testing of yummy treats for the Food Blogger books. I used to have over 100 DVDs. Now that's been paired down as I stream workouts more these days.

6 – I was born and raised in New York City, which leads into #7.

7 – I love New York pizza.

8 – I majored in my hobby – buying. Fashion Buying and Merchandising to be exact.

9 – I have naturally curly hair which means I’m always on the hunt for the perfect hair care product.

10 – I am a full-time author.

11 – I have two more books releasing this year. A novella in the Resale Boutique series and a full-length novel in the Food Blogger series.

12 – I love to cook and bake. My favorite thing to bake is anything chocolate.

13 – I am a struggling gardener. No green thumb here.

14 – I’m a print planner gal. I love my Filofax.

15 – My new favorite show this season is Evil. That show creeps me out and I love it.

16 – My favorite season is autumn. I’m definitely a pumpkin-spice-everything kind of gal.

17 – I marched in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade when I worked in their buying office. I was a dancing turkey. And it was the first year in over 40 years it snowed on Thanksgiving day. Yeah, fun times.

18 – I’m a detailed plotter when it comes to writing my books. 

19 – I love the Real Housewives shows. They were an influence when I wrote SILENCED IN SEQUINS.

20 – I believe the higher the heel, the closer to God.

So, there you have it. Twenty things about me. Now it’s your turn. That’s right. I’d love to meet you, so please say “hi” in the comments and/or share a factoid about yourself. Do we have anything in common? I’d love to know.

Before I wrap this post up, I want to thank the Stiletto Gang for the opportunity to join this amazing group of authors. I'd also like to mention that if you're interested in SILENCED IN SEQUINS you'll find more information about the book here.

Debra Sennefelder is the author of the Food Blogger Mystery series and the Resale Boutique Mystery series. She lives and writes in Connecticut. When she’s not writing, she enjoys baking, exercising and taking long walks with her Shih-Tzu, Connie. You can keep in touch with Debra through her website, on Facebook and Instagram.

Poem for the new year--"Walking on Ice"

by Linda Rodriguez

Happy 2020 to all of you!

At this time of year, many of us are dealing with snow and ice storms. We are also often reflecting on how we want to live the rest of our lives or how we want to improve our handling of important relationships. 

For the new year, then, I offer a meditation on marriage and other relationships, as well as a consideration of what can frequently be consequences of seasonal ice storms.

WALKING ON ICE

  

after a back injury is a constant

putting yourself at risk.

I know this fear well

from years of setting nerve-damaged heel

firmly on glazed cement

that may turn banana peel on me

as if in some eternal silent film gag.

For you, it’s all new—

the discovery that solid earth can shift

you from upright to supine

as soon as the water on its surface hardens.

We age by learning

such hard truths, move through life

gingerly testing our footing, or else

by smashing the brittle in our way

and sweeping the shards

from the sidewalk.

It’s not so hard, learning

to balance on the shine.

Published in Heart's Migration (Tia Chucha Press, 2009)

Linda Rodriguez's 11th book, Fishy Business: The Fifth Guppy Anthology (edited), was recently published. Dark Sister: Poems is her 10^th book and was a finalist for the Oklahoma Book Award. Plotting the Character-Driven Novel, based on her popular workshop, and The World Is One Place: Native American Poets Visit the Middle East, an anthology she co-edited, were published in 2017.  Every Family Doubt, her fourth mystery featuring Cherokee detective, Skeet Bannion, and Revising the Character-Driven Novel will be published in 2020. Her three earlier Skeet novels—Every Hidden Fear, Every Broken Trust, Every Last Secret—and earlier books of poetry—Skin Hunger and Heart's Migration—have received critical recognition and awards, such as St. Martin's Press/Malice Domestic Best First Novel, International Latino Book Award, Latina Book Club Best Book of 2014, Midwest Voices & Visions, Elvira Cordero Cisneros Award, Thorpe Menn Award, and Ragdale and Macondo fellowships. Her short story, “The Good Neighbor,” published in Kansas City Noir, has been optioned for film.

Rodriguez is past chair of the AWP Indigenous Writer’s Caucus, past president of Border Crimes chapter of Sisters in Crime, founding board member of Latino Writers Collective and The Writers Place, and a member of International Thriller Writers, Native Writers Circle of the Americas, Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Storytellers, and Kansas City Cherokee Community. Learn more about her at http://lindarodriguezwrites.blogspot.com

New Year, New Decade, New Direction

by AB Plum

Welcome to the New Year, a New Decade, and a New Direction

No writer's block here. 

Gazillions of potential blog topics cry for the Stiletto Gang's "insights" over the next 365 days. This year, the Gang has decided to add a new subject: the craft of writing fiction. We expect to learn a lot from each other. We hope you'll learn a lot about what goes into writing word after word after word to evoke an emotional connection between writer and reader.

First Wednesday of each month

Look for a new craft post the first Wednesday of the month.

I'm up first—sort of like the first baby born each New Year.

Not characters but names …

For me, the quintessential element of all stories is characters (not necessarily human). We could do twelve months on developing fictional characters, but I'm going with names—a subset, really, of that fictional element.

Also, I'm sort of a names nut. I collect unusual names—from fiction, celebrities, and movies—pop culture at large. Magnus, The REal McCoy, Risa, Ryn, Pierce, Detective Nick Ketchum, Bo "Peep", The Stoned Wall, and Lavender comprise some of the characters I've introduced in various of my books. Here are a few basic ideas that drive me in finding the "right" name: 

Names bring characters alive.

I have never written a novel or a short story for which I didn't have the main character's name before I started writing. Knowing that vital information adds dimension to other aspects of that character I'll introduce to readers almost from page one of the novel. Examples of what a character's name reveals to me: inner drive, personality, goals, past secrets, childhood, disappointments, celebrations, etc.

Two of the best examples of characters whose names fit, IMO, appear in Gone with the Wind.

Scarlett O'Hara and Rhett Butler leap off the page when we meet them. The meaning of her name is obvious (to native English speakers). His Old English name means "small stream."

"Small stream" for a force of nature? Scarlett for a woman whose reputation as a flirt grows worse throughout the novel.

Hmmm. You decide if the names fit the characters.

Names connote animals, places, position, status, ethnicity, and more.

Wolf, Paris, Judge, Yuri.

I'm still waiting for a character to step forward for whom I can use Wolf. I know the character type, but I've yet to meet the specific fictional bearer of the name.

Names reflect culture, time, power, ambiguity, certainty, subtlety and quirkiness.

Octavia, Charity, Reina, Madison, Moxie Crimefighter, Eulalia, Audio Science

I'd love to tell a story featuring a character named Audio Science (the first-born son of actress Shannyn Sossaman). Maybe he and Moxie in a romance?

Names reinforce gender, family, history, religion, values, trends, imagination.

Caesar, Murphy, Napoleon, Lourdes, Peace, Hannah, Pilot Inspectkor

Pilot Insectkor apparently comes from an indie song and definitely sparks my imagination. I am still waiting for the right character to claim the moniker.

Deciding on a name for a character—especially for the Main Character(s)—is like naming a child. Making the name meaningful is my first criterion in choosing a handle.

Risa, the heroine in my romantic comedy Prince of Frogs, means smile in Spanish. A pediatrician, she's never met a kid she didn't like. Her smile is so big and genuine that her patients never cry when she gives them their shots.

Nicknames and pet names can add depth, complexity and insight to a character.

Risa enters the world with a mop of orange-red curls. The nurses tie a big pink bow on top of her head and present her to her mother with a flourish, proclaiming: La Ti Da! From then on she's called La Ti Da because she's so full of life, energy, and joy.

A few of my favorite names for fictional characters include:

Elvis Cole (Robert Crais)

Stephanie Plum (Janet Evanovich)

Spenser (Robert Parker)

Temptation, OH (J. Crusie)

Chili Pepper (E. Leonard)

Scarlett O'Hara (M. Mitchell)

Sookie Stackhouse (C. Harris)

Hannibal Lector (Thomas Harris)

What about you—what are some of your favorite characters' names? Any you hate?

Check back on Wednesday, February 5^th for the next blog on Writing Craft.

****** 

AB Plum, aka Barbara Plum grew up in Southern Missouri. She knew she was in trouble whenever her mother used her first and middle names in one breath. All three names (usually yelled) meant a potential time-out until age 21. Her love of names may have begun with her first puppy, Pickle Puss. Later, ThatCat and YourCat became favorite felines.

Check out her dark psychological thrillers and riveting mysteries :  https://abplum.com/

In the mood for mood for paranormal or contemporary romance:    https://barbaraplumauthor.com/  

It's a Dickens Christmas Y'all!--by T.K. Thorne

Writer, humanist,
          dog-mom, horse servant and cat-slave,
       Lover of solitude
          and the company of good friends,
        New places, new ideas
           and old wisdom.

It's a Dickens Christmas Y'all!

 
Every December, I hide. This has nothing to do with the fact that it's Christmas and I'm Jewish. Like many Jewish families in the South, I was raised with a Christmas tree and presents in addition to Hanukkah traditions with beautiful menorah candles lit each night and (yea!) more presents.  What kid can complain about that?

No, my allergy to December has to do with my husband. He is a beyond-the-pale Dickens fan. Every iteration of the more than two dozen versions of A Christmas Carol plays on our television repetitively all December.  I head for the hills . . . or at least another room.

But last year at the Left Coast Crime Conference (that's crime writers, just so you know), someone mentioned a Dickens festival in California.  My ears pricked. (Okay, I wish my ears could prick because it's so expressive, and I've always wanted a fluffy tail too––can't you just imagine having it drape saucily over your shoulder?  But I digress).

This year is hubby's 60th birthday and our 30th wedding anniversary.  Seemed like going to a Dicken's festival would be a great surprise gift. The problem was we live in Alabama and the festival was in California.  I angsted for months about how to plan a secret trip to California. Finally I broke down and told him what I had up my sleeve.

"I'll arrange the whole thing, if you want to go."

"I would," he says, "but why don't we just go to the one in Tuscumbia, Alabama (2.5 hours away)?

"What?"

He pulls out a brochure he had put in his drawer (thinking the last thing I would ever want to do was have a Dickens-immersion experience) with info about Tuscumbia's 9th annual "It's a Dickens Christmas Y'all!" (And I thought it was just the birthplace of Helen Keller.)

Yes!

A few days later, he shows me a dapper Victorian costume of Ebenezer Scrooge online. It was so spiffy!  Hubby communicates in code, and it  dawned on me that maybe he was feeling out what I thought about him actually getting it and wearing it to the festival.

If he is going to dress in a top hat, vest, and coat, I am all in. What girl does not want to be Cinderella? Found a red and black gown with black lace sleeves, foo-foo hat, lace white gloves, and a bustle (as close to a tail as I am likely to ever get) and we are going to the ball . . . or 1843 London in Tuscumbia!

Christmas Present, Christmas To Come, Christmas Past, Mr. and Mrs. Scrooge, and Marley's Ghost

Festivities began Friday night with a feast, a reading from A Christmas Carol, music, and a chef-prepared dinner. Saturday, the streets were closed to traffic, sporting gift venders, snow machines, and horse drawn carriage rides. Scones and hot chocolate (or coffee) awaited with the spirits of Christmas and Marley's ghost at "Scones and Moans," poetry readings and song at a mid-19th Century church, a high tea, and cookies with Tiny Tim at the beautiful Cold Water Bookstore.

Such a charming town and charming, warm folks!  We had the best time meeting people and couldn't walk but a few steps without being asked to pose for a picture with someone.  Paparazzi! 

"There are dark shadows on the earth, but its lights are stronger in the contrast."––Dickens

Ironically, sometimes this is a very difficult time of year. Whatever your faith, whatever your situation, I wish you peace and joy now and in the coming year.

––TK

T.K. Thorne’s childhood passion for storytelling deepened when she became a police officer in Birmingham, Alabama.  “It was a crash course in life and what motivated and mattered to people.” In her newest novel, HOUSE OF ROSE, murder and mayhem mix with a little magic when a police officer discovers she’s a witch.


Both her award-winning debut historical novels, NOAH’S WIFE and ANGELS AT THE GATE, tell the stories of unknown women in famous biblical tales—the wife of Noah and the wife of Lot. Her first non-fiction book, LAST CHANCE FOR JUSTICE, the inside story of the investigation and trials of the 1963 Birmingham church bombing, was featured on the New York Post’s “Books You Should Be Reading” list.


T.K. loves traveling and speaking about her books and life lessons. She writes at her mountaintop home near Birmingham, often with a dog and a cat vying for her lap.


More info at TKThorne.com

Join her private newsletter email list and receive a two free short stories at “TK’s Korner.”





One World One Love by Juliana Aragon Fatula

Dear Reader,



Happy Holidays. Tis the Season to be jolly. I never understood religious holidays. Not being religious. I understand celebrating. I enjoy festive parties and decorating and eating goodies. I just don’t get the idea that if you are not religious you should have to say Merry Christmas. So, I don’t. My husband does. He’s Catholic and even though he hasn’t been to mass in decades, his family still attends, and of course they think he married a heathen, which he did. 

My maternal grandmother called us kids heathens because we didn’t go to church. 

My paternal grandmother was Catholic, but she died young, so I never met her. She might have also called us kids heathens for not attending mass. 



But my mother, a Pentecostal holiness Sunday School teacher, married my father, a Catholic. who left the church when the priest yelled at him for tithing in pennies. 

Red Canyon Falling On Churches

So, they tried sending us to Sunday school, but it never took. We’d walk home and find them in their pajamas, hung over, and drinking coffee, on Sunday morning. Eventually we stopped going to Sunday school, but not before we learned about hell and brimstone and burning in hell for sins. 

One Christmas, I joined my Catholic aunt and cousin and attended Mass. I stood, sat, kneeled, and listened to them recite words I didn’t understand. I left confused and angry. Why did religion have to be so difficult. 



I said my prayers every night for years. One night, I got drunk and forgot and never remembered again to say my prayers. Then I sobered up and began praying again, not at bedtime, but at morning upon rising. I began thanking God, or whoever, instead of praying, now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the lord my soul to keep and should I die before I wake, I pray the lord my soul to take. Or something like that. It always scared me that I might not wake, or I’d wake without a soul, whatever that was. Kids scare easily. 

I began thanking God for my blessings. Thank you for my life. Thank you for letting me live. Thank you for that A in algebra. You know, thank you for my ability to breath and laugh and feel joy. 



Then I went through a few years of debilitating depression. 
I thanked God for letting me suffer, so I could realize what others experienced and be more sympathetic or empathetic or less judgmental about why they were a drunk, or drug addict, or homeless, or mean, or crazy. I learned through my suffering to understand pain and feeling helpless, hopeless.

I never tried suicide. I thought about it a lot. But the idea of burning in hell kept me from throwing myself in the raging river with rocks in my pockets. I struggled with my demons and I survived.

Now it’s 62 years later, I’m a grown ass woman and I still don’t understand religion. Why can’t I decorate the house for the fourth of July with my candy canes and stockings and decorate a tree with firecrackers? Why do I have to make turkey and stuffing on certain days? Why can’t we eat tacos for the jolliest day of the year? Tacos are jolly. Why do we have to drink eggnog only in December? Why not drink eggnog every day? It’s delicious.   

And the gifts and the greeting cards and the tree and the lights and the fat guy in a red suit. Why? Why do we spend money on things we don’t need or want because some commercial tells us we need a new big screen television with voice activated remote?




So, this year, no cards, no tree, no lights, no presents, no carols, no holly, no ho ho ho. I refuse to participate in something I don’t believe in. I don’t believe in Santa Claus, his reindeer, or his no room in the Manger on oh, holy night. 

My refusal to participate in organized religion makes me a heathen, but I do believe. I believe everyone has a right to celebrate their beliefs in whatever they want to wear, wherever they want to pray, and in whatever language they wish.

Crazy Chicana in Catholic City Conundrum Press

I practice the old ways. I burn sage and sweet grass and cook frijoles and tortillas and drink atole and thank the gods for my blessings. All the gods. 

So, this holiday season, remember your friends, all of them, even the non-believers and respect their belief system. One world. One love. 

p.s. Juliana has suffered from depression most of her life. About fifty years take a decade or two. She continues to believe in magic, miracles, angels, and healing. She tries to manage the holidays with humor but some years are more difficult than others. She hopes you found this illuminating, or at the very least, not too depressing, but remember she is after all, the Crazy Chicana in Catholic City.