Ready, Not Ready (A tribute to Cathy Perkins)

by: Donnell Ann Bell

On December 21, 2021, The Stiletto Gang lost a blog partner and friend. Cathy Perkins passed away. She was able to celebrate her 41^st wedding anniversary with her husband, and I know firsthand how proud and delighted she was with her daughters, spouses, and grandchildren. These people were her world.

For the most part, Cathy Perkins was a private person. In this blogpost, I’d like to celebrate the dynamic person I knew, and why I enjoyed her company so much. Cathy Perkins had a soft Southern drawl, a great laugh, a terrific sense of humor, and a gleam in her eye. She enjoyed exercising and was serious about her health. Her myriad interests spanned from finance and science (chemical engineering was her first degree), to walking her dogs, to working with stained glass, and, of course, writing. 

I met Cathy at the start of her writing career, after judging her unpublished entry, The Professor, in the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense. Later, we would serve on committees and a board together, and we periodically texted or phoned to catch up on the goings-on in our careers.

Whether close by or across the country, she loved to attend writing retreats, places where she was in her element and her most productive. Before COVID-19, the women in her retreat group met yearly and were very special to her.

I attended two Left Coast Crime conferences, one in Monterey, California, the other in Portland Oregon. Cathy and I roomed together in Portland where the staff stashed us next to an obnoxious chiming elevator filled with coming-and-going attendees. Didn’t matter, we spent the whole night gabbing anyway. 

Cathy Perkins on a panel at Left Coast Crime

Authors D.V. Berkom, Donnell Bell and Cathy Perkins

Authors Donnell Bell, Susan Boyer, Cathy Perkins & Allison Brennan

Cathy was not one to brag about her education or her successes. The only time I heard her beyond excited was the night she called me from Nashville to tell me The Body in the Beaver Pond had just won the prestigious Killer Nashville contest. That was so cool because I had beta read two versions of the book–the first draft was good—the final version, was outstanding. “This manuscript is ready,” I told her. “You need to get it out there.”

“Soon,” she promised, “When I’m ready.”

I also beta read Calling for the Money, book three of her Holly Price Financial series. In this book, I discerned a better understanding of this financial whiz behind the words and why she was the perfect author to write this series. She traveled constantly during her financial career, and did much of her writing on airplanes. More than once I asked her when she planned to retire.

“Working on it,” she’d say. “When I’m ready.”  

Always a planner, she and her husband had purchased a secluded property in Washington state, they were clearing a tree-filled lot, and were building their dream home. I never got to see the property in person, but trust me, I saw it in my mind’s eye when I read The Body in the Beaver Pond. Cathy occasionally described the labor-intensive maintenance and the construction woes, mostly laughing when she relayed the drama. 

The dilapidated cabin that her protagonist Keri Isles inherits is an exaggerated structure for the real deal. In its place, stands the Perkins’s long-awaited home with its stunning vistas, which eventually came to fruition.

In March of 2020, the Perkins came to visit my husband and me in Las Cruces. COVID was just starting to rear its awful head, and I’m grateful we had these few days to spend together.

Author Cathy Perkins in Monterey

In closing, Cathy Perkins did more living in her six decades of life than many people do who are granted an additional thirty. She loved, lived, traveled, and gave of herself to numerous volunteer organizations and charitable causes. I still have her text messages and I confess I’ve saved her last voicemail. At some point I’ll probably delete it. Maybe . . . when I’m ready. For now, I’m not ready. Rest in Peace, Cathy.

Donnell Ann Bell is an award-winning author, including finalist in the 2020 Colorado Book Award, and the 2021 New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards for her first straight suspense Black Pearl. Book two is on her editor’s desk and she’s working on Book Three. You can learn more about her other books or find her on Facebook, Twitter, or BookBub. Sign up for her newsletter at www.donnellannbell.com

 

 

 

Clicking Our Heels - Simple Joys

Clicking Our Heels – It’s a New Year with lots of resolutions, but considering everything going on in the world, we thought we’d share something simple that makes each of happy or brings us joy (think an expanded Marie Kondo concept to life).

 

Barbara Kyle – Singing! I’ve sung all my life, in shows when my profession was acting, and now, for the last few years, in choirs. Music is pure joy.

Lois Winston – Spending time with my grandchildren.

Saralyn Richard – Seeing something I’ve planted bloom.

Kathleen Kaska – The biggest joy in my life is seeing my husband smile at me. Coming in second is spending time with my great-niece and great-nephew.

Dru Ann Love – A quiet day all to myself.

Debra H. Goldstein – When words flow.

Kathryn Lane – I have two simple activities that bring me great joy – watching elk in the mountains of northern New Mexico and Zen meditation. My husband participates with me in both pursuits.

Debra Sennefelder – It’s simple and it’s small, but I do find joy in my first cup of coffee in the morning.

T.K. Thorne – What a great question to ponder! It gives me joy to discover a new character or aspects of a character that I’m writing that I didn’t know; to dance to music while cleaning house; to offer support or connections to a young writer; and to sit outside on my front porch and watch lizards and hummingbirds while I write.

Anita Carter– Laughter has always, and will continue, to bring me joy and positivity.

Linda Rodriguez – A pot of nice hot tea, a sock to knit mindlessly (since I’ve made so many), and good conversation with my husband.

Shari Randall – A message from an old friend, clean windows, sunlight sparkling on water, when a favorite old song comes on the radio…simple things, but all make me happy.

Mary Lee Ashford – Family brings me joy. I think I always knew that but have a new appreciation for not just the family get-togethers and celebrations but also for those mundane family moments where you touch each other’s lives in so many ways. This past year has been so difficult being away from family members and one thing I know for sure is I’ll never take that for granted again.

Bethany Maines – My dog. Kato is my eleven year old puppy and he’s as goofy now as the day we brought him home. And even though we’ve both reached an age where people tell us that we “still look good!” he brings a joyful bouncy spirit into the house.

Gay Yellen – Watching my husband cook.

Donnell Bell – Looking at pictures of my grandchildren, playing cards with my very competitive husband, or sitting on our back patio watching the quail and the New Mexico sunsets.

 

 

TECHNOLOGIES THAT WILL CHANGE THE WAY STORIES ARE TOLD

By Kathryn Lane

Houston hosted Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience. Not to miss an important event, Bob and I attended with friends from Angel Fire. So many exhibits are hyped up that we did not know what to expect. Then we left talking about what an amazing show we’d witnessed.

First, you glimpse blowups of Vincent’s paintings that come together though electronic enhancement as you watch. Another room provides photo ops were you can sit in Vincent’s bedroom in Arles and have your picture taken. 

Watch as Starry Night comes together electronically

Then comes the exceptional “Immersion” room where you witness, feel, and become part of Vincent’s paintings as 90,000,000 pixels are projected in a 360° space, while you relax in a beach chair.

Immersion Room with waiting beach chairs.

.

In the Immersion room, don't sit where the train will roar through.

The show's real clencher is the interactive historical journey that virtual reality takes you on as you travel through Vincent’s fields, towns, and cafés. This visually fabulous trip takes ten minutes. At times I had to remind myself I was not flying. I was merely sitting on a sturdy chair as we swooped past cafés and buildings, fields, country roads, and chapels. It’s a combination of cinematography, art, music, and history where you are the observer.

The author, her husband, and friends with virtual reality headsets.

Now that I’ve exuberantly told you about the Immersive experience, I must also tell you I’m not getting a commission for tickets sales. But you should definitely attend if it’s showing anywhere near you.

The real reason that I’m recounting the visit is that this show gives you an incredible ride, but where it might fail is to engage your brain actively, where your own imagination, intellect, and creativity work together to connect the dots.

Maybe by experiencing projections of virtual reality in the future, the human brain will be liberated to create even more sensational innovations. At least that is my hope.

At times, it’s easy for negative thoughts to surface. Thoughts that younger generations are not reading much and that the coming metaverse will create a world where people will not have to solve issues; instead they might only passively partake the virtual world placed before them.

Shows like Van Gogh’s Immersive, social media, and virtual meetings using avatars are the beginnings of the metaverse. These phenomena will change the world.

AVATAR

We are on the cusp of changing how people learn, communicate, and interact. These innovations had been on the horizon yet the isolation and social distancing caused by the pandemic sped up the introduction and use of these tools. Similar to the (almost instant) popularity of the world wide web and the massive adaptation of mobile phones a little more than two decades ago, we will soon grapple with metaverse technologies in everyday life.

Harry Potter Book

As a writer, I think the coming technologies are both exciting and scary. The creative opportunities promised by the metaverse seem exciting. On the other hand, the metaverse will deliver powerful tools that will change how stories are told. Will children in the future want to read Harry Potter when they can experience it through virtual reality? Will people know what their co-workers look like when all they see at virtual meetings are avatars? And what about nature lovers? Will they don a headset to enjoy virtual nature or will they commune with nature the old-fashioned way?

***

What do you think about the metaverse?

***

Kathryn’s mysteries – The Nikki Garcia Mystery series:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B08C7V2675/ref=dp_st_1942428944

Kathryn’s short story collection – Backyard Volcano and Other Mysteries of the Heart

https://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Volcano-Other-Mysteries-Heart/dp/1943306044

 All available on Amazon

About Kathryn

Kathryn Lane started out as a starving artist. To earn a living, she became a certified public accountant and embarked on a career in international finance with a major multinational corporation. After two decades, she left the corporate world to plunge into writing mystery and suspense thrillers. In her stories, Kathryn draws deeply from her Mexican background as well as her travels in over ninety countries.

Visit my website at https://www.Kathryn-Lane.com

Photo credits:

All photographs are used in an editorial or educational manner

Starry Night by Van Gogh - public domain

Two Immersion Room photos - taken by the author

Four people with virtual reality headsets - taken with an iPhone

Avatar and Harry Potter book - public domain

 

A Morning Routine For Real People

New year, new habits, new routines, new goals. It's that time again to re-evaluate everything in our life. Happy New Year! I thought I'd share with you a routine that I've been struggling with since March 2020 (you all know what happened back then, no need to rehash, right?). Up until that month, my morning routine was operating on auto-pilot and it worked for me. So when it got derailed, I was left scrambling finding a new morning routine. So, today we're going to talk about morning routines.

You've seen You Tube videos, read the books and scrolled past Insta-perfect photos of idyllic mornings. On your search for help improving your mornings, you fell down a hole that left probably feeling inadequate and wondering how the heck can you do all the things that you're supposed to do each and every morning?

Your AM To-Do List:

Meditate. Write in your Grateful journal. Write your morning pages. Yoga. Hot water with lemon. Make your bed. Light candles. Exercise. 

Got it? 

I really don't think your morning routine should exhaust you or stress you out. It should ease you into your day and set you up for success. 

But, all those successful authors, CEOs and influencers have amazing morning routines that start at 5am. 

I know. I hear you! But, what I know is that you need to find what works for you. And it's okay not to do everything every single morning. 

Keep in mind, you're probably responsible for someone else or several people in your household and you're probably juggling a job outside the house. Those things are time sensitive. Your kids need to be at school at a certain time, your mom needs to be at her physical therapy appointment at a particulate time and you need to get to your day job by nine o'clock. 

Do you really want to do what feels like a full-days work between 5 am and the time you clock in?

No!

But you want to do all the morning routine stuff. Okay. Create a schedule and rotate the tasks. It's okay to have an uncomplicated morning routine.

Mondays are for your journaling.

Tuesdays you'll do yoga and meditate.

Wednesday do your three morning pages.

Thursday do more yoga and meditation.

Friday journal.

Every morning have your hot water with lemon, make your bed and light a candle. 

Find what works for you and don't compare yourself to someone else. I've been there and it's not a comfortable place to be. I tried to do all the things for a morning routine that would lead to success, book sales, best seller list domination. What did I end up with? A half-filled journal, a feeling of failure and too many lemons.

Leave a comment letting us know what does your morning routine look like.

 

 

 

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.

End of year ramblings by Dru Ann Love

It’s my turn to post and I have no idea what to talk about.

Many people are putting out their top or best list. I did it last year and found it was very hard to pick 10 books and in the back of my head, I don’t want to disappoint my author friends. Like last year, Kaye Barley asked us what books we liked in 2021 and click here (you’ll have to scroll) to see my list.

Due to the current situation that shall remain nameless and due to medical issues, my reading has struggled. In the past, I would have read over 300 books. This year, I read 200. In checking my blog data, I did 35 cover reveals, I introduced 58 new-on-my-blog authors to my readers and published 79 musings. I also introduced a new feature, “word with the author” and it’s a fun way to learn about the authors. 

This year I continue to read mostly cozy mysteries as well as traditional mysteries with a smattering of thrillers, domestic suspense, and yes, I read one historical, one magical realism, and one rom-com. I do enjoy Heather Webber’s and Jenn McKinlay’s writing. Are you still reading the same genre, or have you left your comfort zone?

The funny thing about the books I’m eager to read is despite my love of cozy mysteries, the books I’m eager to read are non-cozies. What is up with that? Oh the 2022 books I’m eager to read are of course, Abandoned in Death and Desperation in Death by J.D. Robb, and then Kellye Garrett’s Like A Sister, The Locked Room by Elly Griffiths, and The Hidden One by Linda Castillo. But then again when I look down my list, there are a few cozies with a wedding theme that I’m eager to read, Wedding Bell Blues by Lynn Cahoon and Murder in a Cape Cottage by Maddie Day. Then there is a slew of cozy mysteries that are too many to list that’s on my list, one in particular, Muddled Through by Barbara Ross, which I can't wait to see what happens next with Julia. What books are you looking to read in 2022?

What else can I talk about?

Oh, I miss attending reader/fan conventions and I truly, truly hope that we can finally gather in 2022. I’m already registered for Left Coast Crime, Malice Domestic (where I’m fan guest of honor), and Bouchercon. Are you planning to attend?

I hope everyone have a Happy New Year.

The Grinch Grows a Heart

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

What a year it has been, scowls my Grinch.

Covid has wielded a scythe among us for the past two years now, cutting down the elderly like dry wheat. Omicron is coming/here. Even if it proves to be less deadly, we could end up with higher deaths due to pesky math. (If the death rate is lower, but still occurs, and the increase of infections is significantly higher, a bad number times a decent number equals more deaths.)

And this question looms larger than I ever thought possible in my lifetime—Will America's 200+ year experiment in democracy survive?

And the planet. I know scientists have set a degree limit on how warm we can get before things get "really bad," but I wonder if the Earth knows to stop after it gets "really bad" and what happens after "really bad."

Wait, I'm suppose to be bringing cheer and jollies on the night before this sacred buy-buy-buy holiday.

Humbug. Bah. Grrr.

What's to bring to cheer? Which family members are missing around the table? How many families have no food, much less a table?  

What hypocrites we are. We are not worth surviving. 

My Grinch stomps out into the doomed world, turns a corner . . . and encounters this:

 

This man, Anthony Cymerys, is an 82-year-old barber. Every Wednesday he brings his equipment to a park and gives free haircuts to the homeless . . . charging only a hug.

My Grinch freezes.

Maybe . . . .?

This young man in the hospital bed has had multiple, painful surgeries. He is Anthony Borges. He was shot five times while holding open a door for other students to escape at the Parkland School shooting.

Maybe, my Grinch considers, as Dickens wrote, it is "the best of times, the worst of times, the age of wisdom, the age of foolishness, the epoch of belief, the epoch of incredulity, the season of Light, the season of Darkness, the spring of hope, the winter of despair." Maybe we have "everything before us, nothing before us. . . ."

Then my Grinch reads this:

The world is not beyond repair. There is hope. That spark of love, that potential in the human soul, maybe it is enough to light the way in the utter dark of the universe.

Maybe we can find and augment that precious, holy spark and pass it on before it sputters. 

I join all the Stiletto Gang members to wish you a season of deep joy and giving and a New Year that ignites all our sparks into a steady flame against the Darkness.

T.K. Thorne is a retired police captain who writes books, which, like this blog, go wherever her curiosity and imagination take her. 

2021 Survivor's Notes by Juliana Aragon Fatula

Dear Reader,

The smile on my face in my Aspen Grove several years ago shows that I love living in Southern Colorado. What the smile does not show is that living in my hometown of Canon City, aka Klanyon City, has never been easy for me but my grandparents, parents, and several siblings are buried here and this is my birthplace and will probably end up being my final resting place. I will have my ashes scattered with my Sister, Irene, on Irene's mountain about fifteen minutes from my home. 

The difficulty for me in living here are all of the memories, good and bad. I lived here for fifteen years before I left home and headed to San Francisco, California to have my son, Daniel. He was born when I was fifteen and a year later before his first birthday, we returned to Colorado and to my parents home. 

I worked and attended high school until I was sixteen and went to work full time for the phone company as a telephone operator. I made lots of friends with the ladies and learned skills in communication and business. From there I moved to Denver, Colorado Springs, Old Colorado City, Green Mtn. Falls, Divide, Woodland Park, and transferred from Mountain Bell to higher paying jobs and better positions. 

One day, my life changed and I lost everything and returned to my parents home. When I figured out what I was doing, I returned to work and began my higher education at Pikes Peak Community College in Colorado Springs. I attended Pueblo Community College, Denver University, Denver Metro, Arapahoe Community College and eventually graduated from Colorado State University - Pueblo with a degree in English and minor in Creative Writing. 

I became an educator and taught in Pueblo, Colorado at Cesar Chavez Academy for a year and loved teaching middle school language arts and teatro. But the next year I went to work in my hometown as a 7th grade language arts teacher and began my full circle of teaching in the same building that I attended almost forty years ago. 

The building had lots of memories and I felt proud to be able to visit my mother in her home everyday and go home for lunch from my job as a teacher in my hometown. It was too good to be true. I failed as a teacher in my hometown because I refused to accept the conservative and close minded parents and administration who told me that I could not teach diversity in my classroom. I did not return the next year to teach. Instead I went to work for Colorado Humanities Writers in the Schools. I taught K-12 students in writing workshops that lasted ten to twelve weeks and ended with their poems being published in an anthology of their work. It was the most rewarding job of my life. Until I began teaching writing workshops for Bridging Borders a leadership program sponsored by the El Pueblo History Center, CSU-Pueblo, Social Services, and the Rawlings Library. 

Mentoring those young women changed me. I became a role model and a leader in my new community of Pueblo. Pueblo accepted my liberal ideas and creative lessons in diversity and one World one Love thinking. I found my calling. 

Today, I continue to write for the Stiletto Gang, write book reviews for la Bloga, attend writing workshops via Zoom, read my poetry and sell my books at conferences and book fairs. I have found a way to enjoy living in my hometown without being part of the community. Instead, I travel the state and nation to places filled with diversity, and open minded individuals like me who appreciate my crazy ideas and flamboyant lifestyle. 

I graduated college at the age of fifty. I  blossomed at mid-life and now that I'm nearing 65 and senior citizen status, I'm semi-retired and loving reading, writing, researching, learning, and growing into the best human being I can possibly be. If my hometown taught me one thing it is that home is where the heart is but happiness in your community can only come when you surround yourself with like minded people and I've found my tribe. They are writers, educators, performers, activists, and students who are life long learners like me.  

 

Can’t We All Just Get Along?

Sign on a Bookstore Window

By Lois Winston 

No matter where you fall along the political spectrum, you have to admit it’s been a divisive few years. Couple that with a pandemic and various conflicts going on across the globe, and it’s a wonder we all don’t crawl into bed, pull blankets over our heads, and refuse to come out. And we’re adults. Think about how our children must feel. 

 

If you have a young child on your holiday shopping list, you might want to consider purchasing a copy of The Magic Paintbrush as a gift. Without being preachy, The Magic Paintbrush addresses the issue of differences, in this case, a kingdom that’s all pink at war with a kingdom that’s all blue for longer than anyone can remember—so long that no one even knows what started the feud. It takes two children from another land to point out to the rulers of both kingdoms how we're really all the same inside and the benefits of everyone getting along.

 

Now if only people in the real world would do likewise….

 

I originally wrote this story for my own grandchildren, but the reception I received convinced me I should send it out in the world for others to enjoy—and learn from—because the lesson taught is one the world really needs right now.

 

Happy holidays!

The Magic Paintbrush

When nine-year-old Jack and his seven-year-old sister Zoe are snowed in for days with nothing to do, their complaints land them in every guy’s worst nightmare—the kingdom of Vermilion, a land where everything is totally pink! At first Jack is mistaken for a spy from the neighboring kingdom of Cobalt, but Zoe convinces Queen Fuchsia that they’re from New Jersey and arrived by magic.

 

Queen Fuchsia needs a king, but all the available princes in Vermilion are either too short, too fat, too old, or too stupid. Jack and Zoe suggest she looks for a king in Cobalt, but Vermilion and Cobalt have been at war since long before anyone can remember. 

 

Jack and Zoe decide Vermilion and Cobalt need a Kitchen Table Mediation to settle their differences. So they set out on an adventure to bring peace to the warring kingdoms—and maybe along the way they just might find a king for the queen.

 

The Magic Paintbrush is suitable for children eight years of age and up to read on their own. Younger children will enjoy the story if it’s read to them. You can read an excerpt here. 

 

Buy Links:

Paperback 

Kindle 

Nook 

Kobo 

iBooks

 

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry.

 

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