Transitioning in Age and Writing

Transitioning in Age and Writing by Debra H. Goldstein

For the past few months, many members of the Stiletto Gang have given you the opportunity to learn about our similarities and differences through our 4^th Thursday Clicking Our Heels column or by interpreting the same topic in one of our monthly posts.  Unfortunately, although I usually pull Clicking Our Heels together, I’ve missed the monthly topics because my travel schedule necessitated pre-scheduling my blog post before it was picked.  Not this month!  This time, you get my take on whether my maturity as a writer (translate that to transition in chronological years) affects my manuscripts.

The problem addressing this topic is that even as the years pass, I don’t think I’ve matured yet.  Sure, I know more of my strengths (plotting) and weaknesses (I’m reserved in life and have to go back and let you know more of my characters’ inner thoughts), but I’m a writing neophyte.  I only began seriously writing in the past five years. 

What comes to mind when you think of a five-year-old? Curiosity? Incessant why, what, when, where

questions? Exploration? Or, perhaps that adorable moment when the whirlwind falls asleep?

For the first few years, I punted. I often was too naïve to ask the right questions, but I observed. Today, my writing life is exactly like a five-year-old.  I can’t soak up enough knowledge.  Whether

I’m reading, taking a class, or talking to someone, I want to learn everything.  Sometimes, I pick up a habit or a concept that impresses me, but isn’t right for my writing. Other times, I have a eureka lightbulb moment during which my writing jumps to a new level.  Hopefully, the result of my five-year-old wonder is that both my short and long pieces have improved. 

Whether I’m writing flash fiction, a six-thousand-word story, or a novel, the length is dictated by what is required to share the tale with you rather than my maturity as a writer. I remove boring parts more easily because I am a better editor than I was five years ago, but those edited parts may be replaced by longer passages of enhanced characterization.

So, my answer as to whether maturity affects the length of my manuscript is “It depends.” The only thing I am certain of is my prayer that as I transition in years, my writing never loses the wonder of being a five-year-old

Embracing the Change

by J.M. Phillippe

Like many other writers, I have a day job. I am a social worker and have spent the last four years working in child welfare. While this can be a very rewarding field to work in, it is also a very draining field to work in. Self-care is a constant challenge due to the demands of the job. When you rarely get time for lunch, it is even harder to make time for writing -- which has not been good for me, or my publishing schedule. 

It's not just the hours, which are long, or the paperwork, which even the most prolific of writers would find daunting to keep up with -- it's that the constant stress leaves you so little mental energy to dig into character and conflict. Writing is work, of course, but it began to feel like more work than it ever had before. 

Every writer, regardless of their outside life, struggles to fit writing into that life. Writing is a very time consuming enterprise, and much of that time is spent away from other people, and away from the maintenance of every day living. It's hard to write and do dishes at the same time (though so easy to get dishes done when you are avoiding a particularly challenging writing session). Time spent writing is time AWAY. You have to have the time to spare (or the ability to create it).  I was running out of away time to dedicate to writing (or laundry, which was piling up on the regular). Something had to give. 

So I sought out and found a new job at a mental health clinic -- I will now be working as a therapist full time. What I am hoping this means is that I will have more time -- and energy -- for writing. 

And yet, change is hard. Change makes people very uncomfortable. (As someone who helps people change their lives for a living, I can attest that most people find it at best, a frustrating experience). So even though I'm very excited for this change, I am also nervous. What if this doesn't work out the way I hope it will? What if I start to feel burned out again? What if I don't make time for writing in this new schedule? 

Change comes with risk -- it invites the unknown into your life. It leaves variables on the table that only time and experience can solve. And at this point, I'm still not sure what X will turn out to be. 

It feels very much like sitting down to write a new story with only a vague outline in mind, and no real idea how it's going to end. So you'd think I'd be used to this feeling, used to facing down the unknown. The very act of writing is the act of embracing change over and over, solving for x time and time again. Writing is meant to be uncomfortable and challenging, or else it wouldn't also be rewarding. Change, like writing, is hard every single time. It also is the only way that something new, and potentially amazing, can happen. 

Here's to opening the door and inviting in the amazing!

***

J.M. Phillippe is the author of Perfect Likeness and the newly released short story The Sight. She has lived in the deserts of California, the suburbs of Seattle, and the mad rush of New York City. She worked as a freelance journalist before earning a masters’ in social work. She works as a family therapist in Brooklyn, New York and spends her free-time decorating her tiny apartment to her cat Oscar Wilde’s liking, drinking cider at her favorite British-style pub, and training to be the next Karate Kid, one wax-on at a time.

My Swan Song by Marilyn Meredith

Swan song definition, the last act or manifestation of someone or something; farewell appearance: 

Yes, this will be my last scheduled appearance on The Stiletto Gang blog. I've been a member since it was first created, but now I find that I need to cut back on a few things and this is one of them.

I've had a great time writing posts for this great group of women writers, and loved getting to know each one. 

I have my own blog, and am a regular on two other blogs, and when I forgot my regular time on The Stiletto Gang and neglected to write a post, I knew it was time to cut back.

For those who don't really know me, I'm much older than anyone who contributes to this blog--and I'm even a great-great grandmother!

Great-granddaughter and her little-one.

This baby was a surprise to the whole family, including her mom. Docs told her she had something wrong with her spleen. If I wrote something like this in a novel, no one would believe it.

My family is way bigger than most--and many of them live nearby, including another granddaughter and hubby and two little girls and a great-grandson and his wife all share are big roomy house. As the years pass, I want to spend as much time enjoying everyone as I can.

Yes, I'm still writing--I have a new Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery, Seldom Traveled, and I'm working on a new Rocky Bluff P.D. 

I'll be popping in from time to time to see what these gals are up to. And that's my Swan Song.

Marilyn Meredith

Celebrated by Americans since 1884

By Kimberly Jayne

"All other holidays are in a more or less degree connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another. Labor Day... is devoted to no man, living or dead, to no sect, race, or nation."

~ Samuel Gompers

Founder of the American Federation of Labor

Happy Labor Day! It's not just for traditional American workers — those 8-to-5'ers who bring home a regular paycheck and enjoy the benefits of paid vacations, sick days, and coworker relationships. It's for everyone who works hard at their craft too, alone in their struggle, like writers.

I always wonder if the broadest section of society that does not write books understands the labor that goes into it. Countless people remark, when they learn I'm a writer, that they could or want to write a book too. Or they offer me a great idea for a book, which is not such a good idea because it's something that doesn't fit me; it fits them.

The truth is most people will never write a book. I think on some level, they must have an inkling of the time, energy, persistence, dedication, and honed talent it takes to finish a project of that size and scope. And for most writers, the ROI for our hard work is abysmal. It truly is a labor of love.

I think we all have a book within us — certainly, we all have stories within us. But it's those who do the work, who push beyond the self-doubt, who churn out the paragraphs and pages and plots that make magical worlds come to life inside the reader, who can be most proud of their achievements.

This holiday weekend alone, I've written about 2,500 words, which is hard to accomplish during the regular work week where I am a writer and editor for a trade publication and where I enjoy all the perks of more "traditional" workers. 

So to all you writers out there who toil in the spare hours of your day, the weekend warriors who fast-write while they have free time away from the J.O.B., those who overcome the obstacles and blast through the blocks, and those midnight-oil-burners who punch those keys long after everyone else is asleep, I celebrate you! I hope you're celebrating your successes on this Labor Day too. 

________________ 

Kimberly Jayne writes in multiple genres including humor, romantic comedy, suspense, erotica, and dark fantasy. Her latest foray into a dark fantasy released in episodes is as much an adventure as the writing itself. You can check her out on Amazon. Find out more about her at ReadKimberly.

Books by Kimberly Jayne:

Take My Husband, Please! A Romantic Comedy

Demonesse: Avarus, Episode 1
Demonesse: Avarus, Episode 2
Demonesse: Avarus, Episode 3

Watch for Episode 4, coming soon!

All the Innuendo, Half the Fact: Reflections of a Fragrant Liar

Hot, Hot Summer

by Linda Rodriguez

It's the first of September, but it still feels like August, and that's gone on so long that my eyes are permanently raw from sun and heat and truly excessive humidity. This photo is me at sixteen in my senior play, Li'l Abner, playing Moonbeam McSwine, a sultry woman whose way of dealing with the heat of summer was just to give in to it--and to every man who came along. So it seemed like a good choice for this post all about summer heat and how it makes us feel lazy and... decadent.

Here's a poem I wrote about summer heat and how it can turn good girls (and women) bad--at least in their minds and imaginations.

BLAME IT ON SUMMER

that I smile too widely,

grinning really, and laugh

too loud and often; that I walk

with spring and sensual sway;

that I stretch myself and twist

like a cat

baking in the backyard

brightness; that my brain is sun-bleached,

all rule and thought boiled away, leaving

only sensory steam;

that my feverish eyes see strange dancing

flames in afternoon shadows

along the sides of streets and Bedouin oases, fragrant

with dates and goats and acrid desert waters,

in every suburban garden we pass

while you argue and drive

and I stare, heavy-brained with heat

and too aware of my own body

and every other;

that I take a lover,

brazenly, crazily,

too sun-stupid to be careful,

in my dreams.

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

Lourey/Baker Double Booked Tour

by  Shannon Baker and Jess Lourey

Today our guest bloggers are the amazing Shannon Baker and Jess Lourey. We're so glad you've stopped by! Take it away ladies!


A big hello to the Stiletto Gang from me (Shannon Baker) and Jess Lourey. Thanks to Sparkle Abbey for inviting us to chat today. We’ve been zooming around the Internets on this crazy, month-long prelaunch blog tour and we’re tuckered out. Or, at least, I am, Jess is much younger so can probably still dance all night. I’m not nearly as pooped, though, as if I’d had to go it alone. Take my word for it, traveling with a friend is so much better. As our host(s), Sparkle Abbey, well know.

Shannon Baker

Shannon: I’m all giddy with excitement to tell you about my new Kate Fox mystery series. The first book, due out September 6th but available for preorder, is Stripped Bare. Set in the Nebraska Sandhills, it’s been called Longmire meets The Good Wife.

Jess: I’m thrilled to talk about Salem’s Cipher, my political suspense novel which is not coincidentally also releasing on September 6th and also available for preorder. Salem’s Cipher features Salem Wiley, an agoraphobic cryptanalyst who must crack codes Emily Dickinson hid 100 years earlier in order to save the first viable female presidential candidate from assassination. USA Today bestselling author Alyson Gaylin kindly calls it “a bona fide page turner.”

Shannon: Together, Jess and I have published 19 books so supposedly, we know something about writing novels. However, I’m plotting another book in the Kate Fox series and would love some expert advice. So today, we’re going to talk about plot and see if Jess can get me out of my mess.

I’ve always been a plotter, as opposed to a pantser (magicians who start on the novel highway and only see as far as their headlights but drive the whole trip that way—to paraphrase E.L. Doctorow) I know Jess is a plotter, too. 

I used to use an Excel spreadsheet and plotted every scene, along with detailed notes. I found I usually jumped away from the outline but having it made me less psychotic. Slightly less. 

In the past I’ve used all kinds of models, from Laura Baker’s Discovering Story Magic, to Blake Snyder’s Save the Cat, and most recently, Larry Brooks, Story Engineering.
But I really admire writers who stay more flexible and I felt like the Universe was trying to tell me to trust myself more. So with my last book, I started with way less planned out. 

As it happened, I got bogged down, wound around, tangled up, and right before I got to the climactic segment, I realized I’d skipped a whole book. So I quit right where I was and now, am backtracking to the lost book.
And I’m taking more time to plot.


Jess: Shannon, I feel your pain. Or at least I see it. I don’t feel it because I’m too chicken to go without a plot, though I know I’d be happier if I was more laidback across ever area of my life. I think about writing novels much like I thought about coloring back in kindergarten, though. I liked to outline the coloring book picture with a dark line of crayon first, and then fill in the middle with a lighter version of the same shade.

Jess Lourey

Similarly, I like to trace the shape of a book before I write it, creating an overarching rhythm by not getting into the details. I usually write a one sentence summary of each scene (and my novels average around 70 scenes), one sentence per note card, and then I lay them all out in a room to make sure they’re all necessary and all in the right order. Once I determine they are, I start writing, leaving room for surprise and rearrangement. You can do something similar to my notecard plotting exercise using Scrivener, which I like, but which I don’t entirely trust in a “I’m going to save my money in a mattress” kind of way.

So Shannon, with the book that you pantsed before realizing you’d skipped a book—was that experience worthwhile for you? Is it helping you to write the book you are writing now, or does it feel like wasted time?

Shannon: I think all writing helps. I believe the more words a person writes, the better she gets. So, no, I don’t think it was wasted. And I will probably use much of it later on. At least I know where I don’t want to go.

In my new series, Kate has several issues going on. She’s got to figure out a whole new life, after she’d thought she had it all planned out. She’s got a beloved niece on the run and is trying to figure out why. And, of course, in every book there is a crime to solve. It’s fun trying to puzzle out where she’s going next and what she needs to do, but keeping all the subplots and threads weaving together can be a challenge. 

Jess, Salem has personal issues, historic, cryptologic and crime going on. That makes for a complicated story. Did your notecard method help you to keep it all running smooth? 

Jess: Yep. Not only that, it kept me sane. In Salem’s Cipher, Salem Wiley, the protagonist, has to crack codes left by Emily Dickinson to find out why powerful women throughout history have been systematically killed. It’s the only way to save her mother as well as the first viable female presidential candidate the U.S. has ever seen. I had the race-against-time plot to crack the codes, the go-back-in-time plot to set up the codes as well as to develop characters, and the across-time plot to set up relationships real time in the book. That’s why I took my notecard game to a new level with this book and color- and shape-coded the cards. Colors signaled whose point of view the scene was being told from, and shape (no corners cut, one corner cut, or two corners cut) indicated which plot thread I was handling. Laying them all out on the floor was a quick and easy way to make sure nothing was getting bunched up or neglected. I have so much admiration for a writer who can weave all those threads with no map!


A little about our books:

Salem’s Cipher: Salem Wiley is a genius cryptanalyst, courted by the world's top security agencies ever since her quantum computing breakthrough. She's also an agoraphobe shackled to a narrow routine since her father's suicide. When her intelligence work unexpectedly exposes a sinister plot to assassinate the country's first viable female presidential candidate, Salem finds herself both target and detective in a modern day witch hunt. Drawn into a labyrinth of messages encrypted by Emily Dickinson and codes tucked inside the Beale Cipher a hundred years earlier, Salem begins to uncover the truth: an ancient and ruthless group is hell-bent on ruling the world, and only a select group of women stands in its way.

Stripped Bare: Just when everything seems about perfect, someone leaves the barn door open and all hell breaks loose. At least, that’s what it feels like for Kate Fox. Born and raised in the Nebraska Sandhills, smack in the middle of eight interfering siblings, related to everyone in the county by one degree of separation or less, Kate’s managed to create a her perfect life.

A shattering phone calls hits Kate like a January blizzard. A local rancher is murdered and her husband, the sheriff, is shot. When her husband is suspected of the murder, Kate vows to find the killer.

Jess and I are both giving away a copy of our new books, Salem’s Cipher and Stripped Bare. For a chance to win, share one of your plot tricks or leave a comment. 


Not only that:

If you order Salem's Cipher before September 6, 2016, you are invited to forward your receipt to salemscipher@gmail.com to receive a Salem short story and to be automatically entered in a drawing to win a 50-book gift basket mailed to the winner's home!

If you order Stripped Bare before September 6, 2016, you are invited to forward your receipt to katefoxstrippedbare@gmail.com to receive a Kate Fox short story and be entered for a book gift basket mailed to your home. 


Join us tomorrow as the Lourey/Baker Double Booked tour trips over to Mysteriastas, where we’re going to talk about recipes. (really) 

Guest Blogger Judy Penz Sheluk: Ruts, Shoes and Imagination

Today, I'm excited to bring you a guest blog from my Canadian friend, Judy Penz Sheluk, whose new book, Skeletons in the Attic, was just released.  See you in September.....Debra

Ruts, Shoes and Imagination by Judy Penz Sheluk

I used to teach an online creative writing course. While a large part of the 20-part course curriculum was structured, there was also the opportunity to create personalized assignments. One of my favorite assignments was meant to spark the imagination of the less-than-imaginative student. Here it is:

1.      Read one book you wouldn’t normally read.

2.      Go to one movie you would never go to see.

3.      Watch one popular TV show that you’ve never watched because you didn’t think you’d enjoy it.

4.      Read one magazine you’ve never read before.

5.      Go into one store you’ve always avoided (too expensive, too cheap, whatever) and buy something.

6.      Try to make (or bake) one new recipe you’ve never made and always wanted to try.

7.      Go to somewhere different (a different park, a different shopping mall, a different coffee shop…it doesn’t have to be exotic).

8.      Try one new activity.

9.      Sit down and really listen to the conversations around you (at a family function, at a coffee shop, wherever). Take notes.

10.  Strike up a conversation with a stranger in a grocery store (without coming across like a stalker).

The students who embraced the assignment inevitably found plenty of inspiration to include in future

writings. But until very recently, I’d never actually done the assignment myself. That changed when Debra H. Goldstein invited me to guest on The Stiletto Gang. “You can write about shoes if you want,” she said, and I knew I was in trouble. Stilettos? Haven’t worn them since my twenties…and that’s a long way behind me in the rearview mirror (although I fondly remember a pair of two-tone pink and mauve stilettos with a slight platform, and dancing in them to John Mellencamp’s Authority Song).

Today, however, my favorite shoes are my Asics runners. They start life as a running shoe, and at the 300-mile mark, they become my walking shoes. Even my protagonists (Emily Garland in The Hanged Man’s Noose, and Callie Barnstable in Skeletons in the Attic) are runners, and they both dress for comfort vs. style.

Of course, I do have other shoes, though they tend to be low-heeled and sensible: a pair of black patent leather ballerina-style flats is about as fancy as I get these days. As for sandals, my pretty white ones with the bling-y rhinestones tend to get overlooked for my much more comfy Birkenstocks. Simply put, I was in a shoe-rut.

But was I also in another rut? I thought about the books I’d been reading, the movies I’d been watching, and determined that maybe I was. I haven’t done all ten parts of the assignment yet (well, I always do #9, so I’ll take a pass on that one) but I’ve added The Book Thief to my to-read pile, and just the other day I watched an episode of America’s Got Talent—and found myself enjoying it. Who knew?

Does this mean I’ll be wearing stilettos any time soon? Doubtful. But you can bet your bottom dollar that one of my characters will be. They’ll probably be two-tone pink and mauve with a bit of a platform…

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Skeletons in the Attic

What goes on behind closed doors doesn’t always stay there…

Calamity (Callie) Barnstable isn’t surprised to learn she’s the sole beneficiary of her late father’s estate, though she is shocked to discover she has inherited a house in the town of Marketville—a house she didn’t know existed. However, there are conditions attached to Callie’s inheritance: she must move to Marketville, live in the house, and solve her mother’s murder.

Callie’s not keen on dredging up a thirty-year-old mystery, but if she doesn’t do it, there’s a scheming psychic named Misty Rivers who is more than happy to expose the Barnstable family secrets. Determined to thwart Misty and fulfill her father’s wishes, Callie accepts the challenge. But is she ready to face the skeletons hidden in the attic?

Judy Penz Sheluk’s debut mystery novel, The Hanged Man’s Noose, was published in July 2015. Skeletons in the Attic, the first book in her Marketville Mystery Series, was published in August 2016.

Judy’s short crime fiction appears in World Enough and Crime, The Whole She-Bang 2, Flash and Bang and Live Free or Tri.

Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Canada, International Thriller Writers and the Short Mystery Fiction Society.

Find Judy on her website/blog at www.judypenzsheluk.com, where she interviews other authors and blogs about the writing life.

Find Skeletons in the Attic:http://getBook.at/SkeletonsintheAttic

Clicking Our Heels - Our Summer Reading and What We Read Again and Again

The Stiletto Gang are all writers, but we also enjoy a good read. In fact, we have summer reads and books we simply enjoy reading again and again. We thought you might be interested in both our summer and comfort reading.

Marilyn Meredith: I love to read anything by William Kent Krueger any time of the year – but there are so many others, especially female mystery authors. I’ve read Gone With the Wind several times – though I must admit I skipped over some of the parts about the Civil War. At my age, I can reread about anything and it seems new.

Paffi Flood: Stephen King. It’s great to read horror stories late into the night, because the sun is out J. I was amazed how timeless Salem’s Lot by Stephen King was. Although it was originally released in 1975, when I re-read it in 2014, the cadence, the language seemed so contemporary. Of course, there were the references to 8-track tapes and car carburetors, and some things from the ‘70s.

Jennae M. Phillippe: I find favorites so hard to pick! I have more reading time in summer and usually catch up on the recommendations my friends have sent me over the year. Recent ones that stand out are Gail Carriger (Steampunk fantasy action romance), Anne Mendel (humorous post-apocalyptic), and James S.A. Corey (Science fiction). If you have recommendations, send them my way! I love to revisit my old favorites, particularly the ones from my childhood, like the entire The Song of the Lioness series from Tamora Pierce, or the Anne of Green Gables books from L.M. Montgomery. There is something about reading books from your childhood that makes you feel like a kid again.

Dru Ann Love: I don’t have seasonal authors. I read all year round and whoever I’m reading at the time becomes a favorite, especially if their book is part of a series. Naked in Death by J.D. Robb is the only book that I have re-read multiple times and each time I discover something I missed the first go-round and fall in love with Eve and Roark all over again.

Sparkle Abbey: Some of our favorite summer reads are Laura Levine, Carolyn Hart, and when we’re looking for something a little darker, Lisa Gardner. We’ve both re-read Laura Levine books occasionally simply because they’re such great escapes. And sometimes you need to escape! LOL.

Linda Rodriguez: I re-read many books. I’ve read Shakespeare, the King James Bible, most of Dickens, Austen, Trollope, and Virginia Woolf many times. I re-read many favorite poets again and again. I’ve re-read everything Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers (at least, her mysteries) so many times I couldn’t begin to count.

Bethany Maines: I usually try and read something fluffy in the summer. I’ll re-read a Terry Pratchett (British humor) or pick up an L.J. Wilson (sexy romance). The Blue Castle by LM Montgomery – I loved it as a teenager and even more as an adult. The idea of casting aside inhibitions to pursue the life you want is a message that is always good to hear.

Juliana Aragon Fatula: Manuel Ramos, Mario Acevado, and High Times Marijuana for Everybody by Elise McDonough, Denise Chavez. The first time I read Indian Killer by Sherman Alexie, I tore through it with vigor because I wanted to know who did it. The second time I went through, took notes, marked pages to review, and savored the writing. It was once for pleasure and twice for writing style. I re-read it because I switched genres from poetry to mystery.

Kay Kendall: There is no seasonal difference in my reading habits. For me it is mysteries, every day, all the time. Or whatever the broadest term is that includes suspense, spy novels, and the occasional thriller. I am not fond of police procedurals or books featuring serial killers. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte. It has everything. Historic sweep, feisty heroine, suspense, a touch of Gothic horror, and Mr. Rochester. Each time I have reread Jane Eyre, I marvel at its depth. It holds up very well. I first read it as a young teen so of course I understand some of its underpinnings better now.

Debra H. Goldstein: Summers are meant for catching up on light mysteries, biographies, and literature. This summer’s books ranged from The Nightingale to Sisters in Law (Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra Day O’Connor) to the new Harry Potter. I’m not a big re-reader but there are a few I often refer to for style or concept like Edna Ferber’s Giant, Agatha Christie’s books, or anything I think might incorporate a style or an idea I’m thinking about.