The Book Is Done!

This is going to be a very short post today because at 3:43 pm yesterday, after working day and night for weeks, I finally finished Physical Education, the sixth installment in the Murder 101/Alison Bergeron series.

I think my fingers are bleeding.

Yes, I have a year to write each book.

And yes, I have a full-time job.

So, that makes for some very long nights at the end of the year, when most people just want to take some time to smell the flowers, or the needles from their Christmas tree. I was only five days late turning it in, but Kelley, my most wonderful editor, assured me that she wouldn't be staying up on New Year's Eve to read this latest--and presumably brilliant!--tome. (I jest, of course.)

Today, I will resume aforementioned full-time job and think about book 7.

Until next week, let me now wish all of you a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2011, a year in which all of your wishes do come true.

Maggie Barbieri

Greetings, 2011!

Here's hoping for a great year for the Stiletto Gang and their families.

I'm not one to make resolutions, but I do have some hopes and desires for the coming year.

My granddaughter is getting married on the 15th. This is not my first grandchild to get married, but a very special one. Jessica lived with us at various times during her growing up years--first with her mom when she was a baby. She went to grammar school at the little school in town, staying with us during the school week. She was here when it snowed for three days (something that hasn't happened since). She invited me every year to speak to her class as an author. I had to come up with new topics as the kids were always the same. One birthday she had a slumber party at our house because it was bigger than her folks and she wanted to invite lots of kids. (That's when I knew I was getting old because I had to go downstairs and quiet them down.)

My hope for her and Jerry is that this will be the start of a wonderful life for the two of them. (That's Jessica and Jerry in the photograph.)

I have an Auntie who is turning 100 this fall--I'm hoping that she'll make it as long as she stays healthy.

I'm hoping for the rest of my big family to stay healthy and to be able to achieve their dreams for this year.

I'll change my hopes to prayers for our little church that we can continue to help out the less fortunate in our foothill community.

For myself and hubby, that we can remain healthy and able to do all the things I've already got inked into the 2011 calendar including another try at the ill-fated mystery cruise that we didn't get to go on last year. This time we hope to celebrate our 60th wedding anniversary while on the cruise since it happens at the right time of year.

And that's just a few of my hope for the coming year.

What are some of yours?

Marilyn

Movies that Delight and Inspire

My criteria for a good movie has certainly changed from my angst-y teen years when there was nothing like a good Ingmar Bergman, "let's examine death twelve different ways" flick, to entertain me and my friends. We were interested in "meaningful" films, although I tended to keep quiet about my secret love for Pollyanna. I would have lost all street cred in the "I'm a deep person, you can tell from the black clothes I wear and the significant movies I see" crowd.

As I got older, however, I more and more wanted escapist movies. I no longer wanted to walk out of a film more depressed than when I walked in. I didn't want to be haunted by images of sad children or abused adults. One of the best things about having kids is that I no longer needed an excuse to see Disney movies. Even though I'm a card-carrying feminist, I have no problem with watching all those Disney princesses and the heroes who saved them. Bottom Line: I don't need to spend mega-dollars on a ticket and a bucket of popcorn to be depressed. I can do that for free on my own time.

I am, therefore, delighted to recommend two movies I saw over the holidays. They were well worth the ticket price (which as an aside is now getting ridiculous), and the popcorn calories.

Top on my list is The King's Speech. Wow, just wow. Colin Firth plays Bertie, second-in-line for the throne, who unexpectedly becomes King when his dissolute older brother, Edward VII, abdicates. Bertie, who takes the royal name of King George VI, is a stalwart, devoted husband and father, with a painful stutter (the result of child abuse by his nanny). England is on the cusp of World War II and desperately needs a leader who can guide it through the difficult years ahead. But Bertie can barely complete a sentence without a tortuous stutter. The story is about his transformation into an inspiring speaker, a result of the treatment he undergoes by the unorthodox speech therapist, Lionel Logue, played brilliantly by Geoffrey Rush.

This is a movie about the triumph of the human spirit, the friendship between two men from different walks of life, and the selfless dedication of men and women to a nobler cause. I walked out of the movie optimistic and energized. Bravo to Colin Firth (who, for me, is still the quintessential Mr. Darcy of Pride and Prejudice), Geoffrey Rush, and Helena Bonham Carter whose portrayal of Bertie's wife, Elizabeth, is in stark contrast to the role of Bellatrix LeStrange which she plays in the Harry Potter films. Her range as an actress is remarkable. Oscar nods are expected all around.

At the other end of the spectrum, and I'm sure it had a good moral to the story, but I was just too enchanted to focus on it, is Tangled, the latest animated film from Disney. The songs aren't particularly memorable, and yet, on a cold winter's day, the tale of an independent Rapunzel who joins forces with a bad guy with a heart of gold to find her true family, is just delightful. It's not a movie I'd see a dozen times (like Aladdin or The Lion King), but like a good Hershey bar, it was sweet, without being saccharine.

I wasn't particularly impressed by the host of previews I saw, but I no longer expect to have a long list of films I've got to see. I'm just pleased that these two were such unexpected pleasures.

Any other recommendations from movie-goers?

Evelyn David

------------------
Brianna Sullivan Mysteries - e-book series
I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
The Dog Days of Summer in Lottawatah- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
The Holiday Spirit(s) of Lottawatah- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords

The Sullivan Investigation Series
Murder Drops the Ball (Spring 2011)
Murder Takes the Cake - Paperback - Kindle
Murder Off the Books - Paperback - Kindle
Riley Come Home (short story) - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords

Rachel's Letter to Teen Me

by Rachel Brady

My friend, author Bekka Black, recently wrote a letter to her teen self, and I thought that looked like some fun, so I've jumped aboard.

Dear Teen Me,

I have more than twice your life experience now.

I considered telling you how much smarter you'll be in twenty years, but the truth is that you're already smart about all the important things. So instead I'll tip you off about some minor points that will really help you out.

Your dad is right. There is no movie star on late night television whose interview is more important than a full night's sleep. Please turn off Arsenio Hall and go to bed. You'll feel so much better in first period English tomorrow.

I'm sorry to report that your struggles with driving are not due to inexperience, as we thought, but are genetically encoded into you. Lower your insurance deductible now. In 2003, a moment will come when you are shopping for a minivan. You will decide that those little backup sensors in the rear bumper aren't worth the money. Please reconsider.

Lately you spend inordinate amounts of time worrying over whether to major in English or engineering. You'll end up going with engineering and you'll love your career. In about twelve years, you'll try your hand at writing and finish a book. (I know! Crazy!) The book will get published! Sorry to ruin that surprise, but I want you to understand that sometimes in life, huge choices are not necessarily mutually exclusive like they seem at the time. Have the cake. Eat it too. You just might have to wait to eat it.

Speaking of which, the answer to your question about whether there is any fish in the world that does not taste disgusting is Yes! Tilapia. You won't know that until you're in your thirties. For now, stick with chicken.

Keep running. That will turn into a lifelong thing for you. One day, your best friends will be people you met on the trails.

Stop poofing up your bangs until they stand up ten inches in the air. We have an ozone problem now.

Tell your grandfather how much you admire him. By the time you're mature enough to understand why that's important, you will have missed your chance.

The boy in study hall likes you too. You'll date for a couple of years, but he isn't the One. Actually, you're headed for a string of guys who aren't the one. There is something important to learn from all those relationships, though, so love fully and love hard because it's time well spent.

You will become a mother to three amazing kids! When you worry about whether you're parenting them well enough, try to remember: Make the best decisions you can with the information you have at the time. Yes, you will look back and wish you'd done better here or there. But if you can look back and know you did the best you could with what you knew at the time, it's a lot easier on your Mom Guilt.

In fact, let that be a guiding principle in all your choices.

Looking back at the choices you're making now and how they've influenced the me of today, you should know you've done just fine.

Oh, one last thing. Your Thermodynamics professor will screw you on the final exam. She's not going to grade on a curve like she says she will. Brush up on standard enthalpy.

Good luck. Grow out your bangs.

Rachel

Happy Anniversary to Me!

It's my anniversary today. 20 years. Yowza!

My mother is a forever fan of my husband because he convinced me (read: ultimatum) to stop smoking (I was a high school/college Virginia Slims smoker...bad girl!).


My father is a forever fan of my husband because he sees a bit of himself in my man... namely the ambition and determination it took to rise out of poverty, become educated, and pursue his dreams.



I'm a forever fan of my man because of his utmost devotion to our kids, our family, and me! He's a great guy. His support throughout my writing career--through rejections, submissions, revisions, and everything in between-- has been the thing that has kept me going.

He's the wind beneath my wings. (Hehehehe! Not sure he'd like that phrasing, but, oh well. One thing he doesn't do is read my thousand blogs!)


So, as the new year approaches and I:

• conjure up resolutions (most of which I likely won't keep)
• gear up for a new teaching session at SMU
• write lectures for the Building a Mystery course I'm teaching beginning Jan 24th with Savvy Authors
• plan the launch of yet another website (The Writer's Guide to E-Publishing, launching January 1st, but open for your reading pleasure now!)
• work hard on revisions for Pleating for Mercy (which I just saw is available for pre-order on Amazon!!!)
• plot and begin writing Shear Misery
• and plan The Storiebook Cafe Mystery Series...

I'm grateful for my man, my marriage, my family, and the fact that I spend everyday doing the thing I love doing most of all...



...Weaving tales of mystery and mayhem, and writing them down to share with the world (or with whoever actually reads them).
As 2010 comes to a close, what are you most grateful for, and what are you looking forward to in 2011?

Of Blizzards and Resolutions

Back in August, my mother, daughter, and I visited my sister in Savannah for the weekend. When it was time to leave, our first flight home was cancelled. Our second flight home—the next day—was also cancelled. And so on and so forth until we got a three-connection itinerary that took us to some of the most delightful airports south of the Mason-Dixon line before we were desposited, twelve hours later, in New York City.

We were lucky. It was summer and we didn’t have anywhere to be, and I work for myself. We stayed calm. Others among us—namely the other passengers on our first flight—all must have been heart surgeons with actual hearts in their carry-on luggage because everyone needed to get home ON THAT DAY. No ifs, ands, or buts. We watched in amusement as people plugged numbers into their cell phones with such force that we were surprised that the phones didn’t break on contact. We watched as every single passenger berated the ticket agents for this inconvenience, as if the ticket agents were responsible for the fifty mile an hour winds in New York. We watched as husbands yelled at wives, and wives yelled at children, and children played in the aisles, blissfully unaware that their trip to Hilton Head had been extended by one, or maybe two, days.

It all came back to me as I watched the news coverage of the “Blizzard of the Century” these past days. Oh, and since the century is only a decade old, should we have trotted out that moniker too quickly? So willy-nilly? Surely there will be other blizzards in the next ninety years; what will we call them? Anyway, many reporters worked through the night to bring us this news: “It’s snowing. A lot.” But pity the poor reporter who was stranded in LaGuardia Airport—a hell hole on regular days—to talk with travelers who had just a slim hope of getting home before New Year’s Eve or in this calendar year. Amazingly, they were all extremely calm. One woman, carrying her Port Authority-issue mat with her in case she needed to sleep on the floor again, spoke of washing up in the rest room, eating lots of healthy airport food instead of junk, drinking water, and waiting it out patiently. She knew that there was nothing to do but be positive, and as a result, was incredibly calm and poised. She even had on makeup! I don’t know about you all, but the first thing to go in the face of life’s inconvenience is makeup. But this woman was all made up, dressed fashionably and appropriately for the weather, and had every hair in place. She talked about the beauty of the snow and the kindness of airport employees. Jim and I looked at each other in awe, wondering where this Zen-filled woman had come from. And if she would ever make it back there.

How we react to life’s inconveniences really shows our true colors, don’t you think? I know it’s easy to go with our first instinct, which for me is to rail at the injustice of it all. But by taking the high road along with a deep breath, accepting that things sometimes are out of our control, is not to relinquish the upper hand. It’s called ‘going with the flow’ and one of my New Year’s resolutions is to do that whenever I can. (I can hear my family members laughing heartily at this proclamation but I’m going to give it my best shot; I’m proven myself to be spectacularly pig-headed and not flow-going.) This resolution will prove to be challenging and will definitely take me out of my Type-A comfort zone but hey, it’s worth a try. And it will be far less challenging than sleeping on a Port Authority-issue mat in the middle of LaGuardia airport. That, my friends, takes a force of will I just don’t have.

How did you weather the storm, Stiletto friends? And what are your resolutions for the new year?

Maggie Barbieri

My Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

Above is a photo of great-granddaughter Kay'Lee who served as Santa Christmas Eve and passed out the gifts at the Christmas Eve get-together at our house. Mainly it's my son's crew, his wife and two sons (Kay'Lee belongs to the youngest)and son's daughter, but we also have our youngest daughter's son who lives with us and of course, hubby and I.

We had a Honey-Baked Ham, green bean casserole, cheesed broccoli, and buttered baby red potatoes. Granddaughter made a fancy cake and we had lots of cookies.

At 3:30 a.m. Christmas morning, I heard someone in the house, no, not Santa Claus, but it was my son. He came to help me get the 20 pound turkey out of the refrigerator and into the oven. (Hubby just had cataract surgery and was told not to lean over and pick up heavy stuff so he got to sleep through this.) Once the turkey was tucked into the oven and on it's way to being cooked, both son and I went back to our own beds.

Daughters who live in Southern California gave me a fancy coffee maker, so daughter-in-law and I enjoyed cups of coffee while we started on our contribution to the church's Christmas dinner. We made candied yams, lots of stuffing, and two big pans of green bean casserole. The turkey came out looking beautiful, but together, daughter-in-law and I sliced it up and put it in a big roaster. At 11, with son's help we hauled it over to the church.

By noon all sorts of roasters and crock pots had arrived filled with mashed potatoes, lots more turkey, ham, yams, gravy, etc., green salad and broccoli salad and the biggest array of desserts including apple and pumpkin pies, assorted fruits, brownies and fudge.

Those of us who intended to help serve went ahead and ate. Yummy! More people trickled in and ate and the fellowship hall began to fill. We fed lots and lots of folks, but mostly our own church family, despite the fact posters had been put up all over town, plus a big sign on the highway.

More than a dozen take-out dinners were delivered to seniors and handicapped folks. (We have a low-income apartment complex for same in town.)

We had so much food left-over, guess what we did? Sunday, after church, we had Christmas dinner all over again. Nearly everyone who attended, many who hadn't been there on Christmas, got to enjoy the fruits of our labor.

Will we do it again next year? I have no idea, but it really was a fun way to spend Christmas.

From 12/25/2010 through 01/02/2011, readers can take 20% off all Mundania Press, LLC ebook and print titles purchased directly from the Mundania Press website. At checkout, use discount code: SANTA. All my Deputy Tempe Crabtree mysteries are available at Mundania. http://www.mundania.com

And all you new Kindle and other e-reader owners, most of my books are available on all the devices too—including the Rocky Bluff P.D. series, under the name F. M. Meredith. And others of my books under the name everyone knows me by, Marilyn Meredith.

Happy New Year!

Marilyn

Evelyn's Holiday Movie Picks!

Here are our all time favorite holiday movies. Please share yours.


Rhonda -

A Christmas Story - Ralphie gets his bb gun and his tongue stuck to a lamp post. What could be better?

While You Were Sleeping - Warm family Christmas movie with Sandra Bullock at her best.

Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer - Great songs and characters.

It's a Wonderful Life - Can't do better than Jimmy Stewart, any time of the year.

Die Hard - okay, not a traditional pick, but a fun hero movie and it is set at Christmas.

Marian -

The Shop Around the Corner, 1940. Just watched it and it's lovely. Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan, plus Frank Morgan who two years earlier was the Wizard of Oz. You've Got Mail was the modern remake, but not even close.

An Affair to Remember- 1957 - cheesy but good. Can't go wrong with Cary Grant, Christmas and the Empire State Building

It's a Wonderful Life - 'nuff said

White Christmas - Danny Kaye as the buffoon is marvelous, Rosemary Clooney sings like an angel, Bing ain't bad, and who ever saw Vera Ellen after this movie?

Meet Me in St. Louis - worth it just for Judy Garland singing, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

Best Wishes for a Happy, Healthy 2011!

Rhonda and Marian
aka Evelyn David

http://www.evelyndavid.com
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The Sullivan Investigations Mystery Series
Murder Drops the Ball (Spring 2011)
Murder Takes the Cake - Paperback - Kindle
Murder Off the Books - Paperback - Kindle
Riley Come Home - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords

Brianna Sullivan Mysteries - ebook series
The Holiday Spirit(s) of Lottawatah
- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
The Dog Days of Summer in Lottawatah
- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries
- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords