and while I have your attention . . .

I have a few more books I've read recently that I'd like to recommend (some were ARCs and may not be available just yet, but coming soon - all are highly recommended)   -   -   -

 

 

 

  

  

  

Enjoy!!  I hope you'll let me know what you think.

FTC Disclosure

I received ARCs of Bad Boy, 

My Reading Life,

The Day of Small Things, 

Crooked Letter, Crooked Letter,

Red Hook Road and Every Bitter Thing

They were sent to me by the publisher 

or by the author

in hopes that I might review it.

No additional compensation was made

or offered.

In Case You Didn't Hear Me Squeal the First Time

Louise Penny's BURY YOUR DEAD will be released next week. 

 Cover for the Canadian and UK version

reposted from an earlier date

I was one of the lucky recipients of an ARC of BURY YOUR DEAD

wow.  

Repeating myself - this is, I think, one of the best series being written today.

Repeating myself yet again - I felt as though her last book, THE BRUTAL TELLING, was masterful and that it carried Ms. Penny to a new level. 

I know sometimes when a book in a series reaches as high as THE BRUTAL TELLING, we've been known to feel a bit let down with the next entry.  Not to worry.  I can't imagine anyone feeling that way about BURY YOUR DEAD.  The magic of Ms. Penny's writing continues.  The subtle humor, the restrained poetry of word play and the emotions emanating amongst the characters, along with meticulous research.  


This one is a bit of a departure for Ms. Penny.  There's a plot line dealing quite extensively with the history and founding of Quebec City which I found to be fascinating.  I love well researched novels and this one strikes me as having been exceptionally, lovingly and meticulously researched.

Mentioning that I felt this was a bit of a departure is not to mean we don't still have everything we've come to expect and love in one of Ms. Penny's Three Pines novels; as I said - the magic is still there.  The  intricate plotting we expect is there. The gentle subtle humor is there.   Its also got a surprise or two.  or three.  It's also profoundly sad. I found myself wiping away tears more than once.

We don't spend quite as much time in Three Pines as we sometimes do, but the time we do spend there is as quirky as ever.  Where else are we going to find favorite characters having dinner in their local bistro in their  jammies, with no one batting an eye?

For fear of giving anything away, I'm going to hold off on saying any more . . .   

Well - okay - one more thing . . .  there's a major aspect concerning our beloved Gamache that is heart wrenching - keep that box of tissue handy!

Last year after reading THE BRUTAL TELLING, I think I immediately knew it would be at the top of my 2009 favorites, and told you all I thought you should add it to your "gotta read" list.  Well, I'll repeat all that this year for BURY YOUR DEAD.  

And now that I've finished it and know what happens, I'm going to immediately bury myself in it again to just savor the poetry of the writing, the ambiance of setting, and pure joy of words put together perfectly to tell a perfect tale.  

I adore this book.

and its author.

FTC Disclosure

An Advance Reading Copy of

BURY YOUR DEAD

was sent to me by the publisher

in hopes that I might review it.

No additional compensation was made

or offered.

Reading Aloud and Listening by Nikki Strandskov

Nikki Strandskov (aka Auntie Knickers) lives with her husband, Onkel Hankie Pants, and their dog Rusty, in Brunswick, Maine, home of the wonderful Curtis Memorial Library. She is enjoying having a bit more time for reading after the end of her census employment. She promises to start blogging and contributing to DorothyL again very, very soon.

READING ALOUD AND LISTENING

by Nikki Strandskov

I have always enjoyed reading aloud. Perhaps it's because I learned to read very young, and demonstrating that skill was something that got me attention and praise as a child. In any case, I like it and I'm reasonably good at it. The first two cars we owned early in our marriage had no radio, so, as the non-driver, I would sometimes read aloud to my husband on long car trips. The books chosen were nearly always mysteries; at that time, in the early '70s, Onkel Hankie Pants was relatively new as a mystery reader (having spent his youth reading science fiction), so I caught him up with Sayers, Stout, Marsh and Christie. I doubt my British accent would pass muster with any recording company, but I did my best and at least kept him awake!

When the children came along, both of us were able to indulge ourselves in this type of performance. Onkel Hankie Pants, who was taking a summer class in Victorian literature when SonShineIn was born, read aloud portions of Thackeray's Vanity Fair to him in his cradle. By the time SonShineIn was 5, we had read to him all the Little House books as well as Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn (yes, unexpurgated -- one of the joys of reading aloud to one's children is the opportunity to stop and explain when language or values differ from one's own). Of course, he also enjoyed the usual picture books and nursery rhymes. Later, when the girls were born, they too learned that a sure and swift way to get Mommy's attention was to ask for a story.  And yes, all three have turned out to be readers.

I've also done a fair amount of reading in church -- both Scripture lessons and, for many years, a Christmas story at the Christmas Eve service in our old church in Minneapolis. Several years ago, when we moved from there to Maine, our youngest, Sisterfilms, the Christmas baby, mentioned that she missed our annual readings of some of her favorite Christmas tales. I began a project of recording them onto the computer and making CDs to send to her with a story for each day of Advent. These days, she transfers them to her iPod so she can listen in bed, on the bus, or wherever the opportunity arises. This year, I've signed up with a file-hosting service, and plan to make the readings available through my blog this December.

AND LISTENING....

So, for many years I've been the Reader; opportunities to be the Listener have been fewer. That changed last February when Onkel Hankie Pants and I were offered jobs in the Local Census Office in Portland, about a 35-minute commute from our home. Up till then, our only use of audiobooks had been on a few long car trips, since we commuted mostly by bus during our years in Minnesota. It only took a week or so of commuting before one of us realized "We could be listening to stories!" Off to the library we went. Our car has only a CD player, so we had a slightly smaller selection than if we'd also had a cassette player, but we were still able to find enough audiobooks to get us through 7 months of commutes.

Since we don't have completely similar tastes in reading, we needed to find books that both of us could enjoy and that neither had already read. This meant primarily police procedurals, hard-boiled detectives, and what I guess I'd call thrillers. These included three of Michael Connelly's Harry Bosch books, read by Len Cariou, and his The Lincoln Lawyer, read by Adam Grupper; Elmore Leonard's Mr. Paradise, Thomas Perry's Fidelity, Ian Rankin's The Naming of the Dead (wonderfully narrated with Scottish and other accents by Tom Cotcher), and Walter Mosley's White Butterfly, read by Dion Graham in a masterful performance. We also listened to Donna Leon's Blood from a Stone and, for a complete change of pace, two young adult novels by Terry Pratchett, The Wee Free Men and A Hatful of Sky.

I had wondered how the experience of listening would differ from reading. Of course, one thing is that you have to keep your wits about you -- it's complicated to go back a few chapters to remind yourself of what someone said or did. I'd read other works by all the authors except Mosley (I think I tried Devil with a Blue Dress years ago and gave up on it) and in nearly all cases I'd say the experience of listening was at least as good as, and sometimes better, than reading. Hearing Rankin's book read with the proper accents really put me in Edinburgh, and Stephen Briggs, who reads the Pratchett books, is as much a national treasure as Pratchett himself. The one book I felt did not come across as well was Blood from a Stone by Donna Leon. Her books rely so much on setting and, for lack of a better word, philosophy -- Brunetti's interior monologue -- that does not translate as well to reading aloud as a more dialogue-heavy or action-packed book does. I'll definitely read more of Leon's books, but I'll do it the old-fashioned way.

I did have one "pet peeve" about a number of the readers. All the books we chose were narrated by men, but most had fairly major female characters. Some of the readers chose to indicate the female voices by using a breathy, higher-pitched, parody-of-Marilyn-Monroe voice. This was not only annoying in itself (really, how many women, especially women police officers, do you know who talk that way?) but made for constant volume adjustment so that we could hear the dialogue above the ambient noise of driving an old minivan down the highway. 

Last week, our temporary work for the Census ended, and we were in the middle of a book -- George Pelecanos's The Turnaround. What to do? Well, yesterday we drove to Rockland to see some N.C. Wyeths (and other art) at the Farnsworth Museum. We took my artist brother along, and after giving him a short plot synopsis prevailed on him to listen along with us. Now we're on the last disk of the book, and listen to a few minutes every time we're in the car. Since I'm a visual learner and also somewhat distractible, I think I'd find it difficult to listen to audiobooks just sitting in the living room, but I'm glad to know they'll be there the next time we take a long road trip.

# # # # # # # # # # # 

Nikki Strandskov

Bayberry Hill Genealogy

Suffering a Creative Crisis?

Many of you are aware of Julia Cameron's THE ARTIST'S WAY.  For those of you who are not; it's a book described as "a course in discovering and recovering your creative self."  Actually, there are several Julia Cameron books of this sort, but this one, I believe, is the most well known and widely used.

After a recent discussion with friends, I learned there's even an on-line course.  I am not taking The Artists's Way course, nor am I involved in it in any way, but I am interested, and I intend to start exploring it a bit.

Too often, I think, we all tend to lose a little of our creative selves simply because life gets busy and keeps us occupied with the mundane.  I seem to be going through a bit of that.  And - I hate to admit this; but my on-line life seems to be contributing to that loss as well.  Do I give up my blogging, my email, my DorothyL and my Facebook in order to reclaim a bit of my creative self?  No - Not my blogging; it's a huge part of my creative self, and I cherish it.   But as you can see for yourself, even that has fallen off, and it's at the top of my list of things to work on reclaiming; I miss it.

I don't want to give up the others either, but I definitely need to find a way to fit all the things I want to do into a day.  A day that makes sense.  And one that's fulfilling.

AND one that still allows me time to read.

Oh.  and work.  Once again . . . there's that pesky thing called a job . . .

So here's what I'd like to know.

Anyone out there use THE ARTIST'S WAY?  Or did you at one time?  Do you follow the book?  Have you taken the on-line course?  Or are there specific tools from it that you use after casting others aside.  Can you recommend it?

Or, completely aside from THE ARTIST'S WAY,  what exactly do you do to utilize your time best to tap into your creative side?  

Have you had a "creative crisis?"  What means did you use to resolve it?

Creating a space that allows me to write multiple books and articles without going crazy by N. J. Lindquist

N. J. Lindquist is what some people call a Renaissance woman. We won’t say what others call her. An award-winning author and journalist, an inspiring speaker, a down-to-earth writing teacher, founder of a Canadian organization of writers, mentor and coach, over the years she’s tackled a variety of things, and made them all work.

A former English medalist and high school Teacher of the Year, N. J. homeschooled her four sons for a total of 17 years while cooking, cleaning, sewing, gardening, mastering a variety of crafts, remaining active in a number of volunteer leadership positions, writing, speaking, mentoring others, and, basically, never wasting a minute.

Her books include two Manziuk and Ryan Mysteries. Publishers Weekly said of the first (Shaded Light) “…captivating…she updates the Golden Age template.” Library Journal’s review of the second (Glitter of Diamonds), called her “a master of plotting.” She also has five novels and three nonfiction books for teens.
N. J. co-edited and published Hot Apple Cider: Words to Stir the Heart and Warm the Soul, an anthology featuring 30 Canadian writers, with a foreword from Janette Oke. Since its publication in 2008, 45,000 copies have gone out.

Hot Apple Cider features “The Diamond Ring,” an article by N. J. that addresses her childhood as an “ugly duckling,” unaware that it was her creativity that made her “different.” Most of her life, N. J. felt embarrassed or guilty for being who she was, but these days, she wouldn’t change a thing.
Read more at N.J.'s website:  http://www.njlindquist.com





Creating a space that allows me to write multiple books and articles without going crazy
by N. J. Lindquist

Okay, the “without going crazy” part might be stretching it. The truth is, I’m one of those people who apparently make other people feel a little crazy. You know, the kind of people who write those long letters at Christmas about all the things they’ve done in the last year. Every time I hear a joke about those people, I cringe.

I spent years feeling guilty about being so busy, embarrassed that I was a “jack of all trades and master of none.” It’s not as if I do all those things just to be able to list them and make others feel bad; doing those things is what makes me feel really good, and I want to share my excitement.

Barbara Sher, in her book, Refuse to Choose, calls people like me “scanners.” There are various types of scanners. Some flit from one thing to another the way butterflies flit from one flower to another. Some have one main interest but a number of satellite interests. I, on the other hand, have a large number of equal interests, and I try to keep them all active at any given time, much like the guy with all the plates in the air who used to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show. Plus I don’t just want to know a little bit about the things I’m interested in; I want to know a lot about them, and keep learning, often until I can teach them.

Honest, I used to feel guilty for being that way. I mean, I didn’t set out to know all those things, or to write in eleventy different genres. It just kind of happened as I was going about having a life. Okay, a busy life. Yes, I even homeschooled all four of my sons until they went to high school. While being very active in church leadership and editing a newsletter and writing on the side and planting a garden and macraméing all my light fixtures and creating a cookbooks of my favourite recipes and.... Did I mention I used to make my husband’s suits? And I enjoyed it! All of it. Equally.

What does that have to do with my office? Well the thing is, many writers talk about the book they’re working on; I talk about the six books I’m working on. Okay, to be perfectly honest, more like 22. Yeah, I know, that’s a bit of a conversation stopper. I’m sorry! Okay?

So in the interests of brevity, let’s say I have six books I’m currently working on: my third Manziuk and Ryan Mystery; a memoir; a book based on my writing workshops; a sequel to my teen novel, In Time of Trouble; and a fantasy novel I originally wrote for my granddaughter, but which has taken on a life of its own and now has me busy revising it and creating a series. I’ve also just begun production on Hot Apple Cider 2, a follow-up to the anthology Hot Apple Cider, which has done really, really well. Was that six or seven? Well, close enough.

I’m also teaching a number of workshops, doing readings, and, well, a few other things.
So, how did I create an office that allows me to do all these things without going crazy?

Let me preface this by saying that over the years, I’ve written in all kinds of “offices” in a number of different houses: kitchen tables, our dining room table, our dining room without the table, our family room, our living room, various bedrooms, our loft, and, finally, an actual room just for me!

My room is on the second floor of our three-storey house. Our oldest son and his wife used it as their bedroom for several years, but since they moved out five years ago, it’s been mine, all mine.

It’s a decent-sized bedroom, but not large by any means. However, it holds a lot.

The windows (there are three of them) face west, so I didn’t want a warm color, but neither did I want a cold one. So I painted the walls a light olive green. This color works very well, I think. The carpet is light taupe and the window blinds and doors, etc. are white.

The two bookcases (Canadian Tire, I think) hold most of my books on writing. I actually just got rid of about 30 books—decided they were outdated or had been supplanted by books I liked much better. It’s always difficult for me to part with books I’ve enjoyed reading.

My reading chair and footstool (early Walmart) are taupe and the desks and bookcases are all a sort of oak color.

The sideboard (early garage sale) holds, besides my TV and copies of my own books, my awards and other paraphernalia, books and other things I’m using for research, and whatever letters, magazines, papers, or other items need to be hidden at any given moment. (You didn’t think it looks this tidy normally, did you?)

My desk was actually found at a garage sale. It’s an L-shape, which is what I wanted, but it was black. I used melamine paint to make it brown. The chair (Staples) is blue/grey and really doesn’t coordinate at all, but it’s very comfortable and keeps my back relatively happy.

You noticed the two computer screens, right? Love, love, love having two screens. Might add a third.

The TV. Rarely miss a Blue Jays or Raptors game. And, yes, I write with the radio on or my CDs blasting. Did my homework the same way. Honest!

I’m a visual person, so I need the bulletin boards with the reminders of my current projects and the accessible file folders (files for two books in each) to help me keep everything I need at my fingertips.
Ditto the notes to remind me of truisms I’ve discovered over the years (E.g. “Out of sight, out of mind”).

The heart of my organizational system

Years ago, I read a book by Don Aslett and Carol Cartaino called Get Organized; Get Published. It was a lifesaver for me. First, it told me I wasn’t the only person in the world trying to do many things at the same time; more important, it told me how to organize for as many projects as I wanted to have—even 22 books.

Each book idea gets its own plastic container. For a week, a month, or several years, everything related to that book—newspaper clippings, recipes, books, maps, ideas—gets thrown in. When I decide to work on the book, I create a series of file folders as appropriate depending on the type of book. Because I like to read and edit on paper, I also create a binder to hold printouts. When the book is completed, everything I want to keep goes back in the bin.

To-be-written book bins are kept in a custom-built unit my husband made. He got a part of a counter top (on sale) and made shelves to fit under it on both sides. It’s at desk level so allows me to spread things out on the top, too.

My husband also put a shelf behind me above my file carts so I can keep things I reference frequently. The items vary depending on what I’m working on. Right now it has a couple of photograph albums related to my memoir. Milton’s Paradise Lost for a class on writing poetry I’m teaching, a copy of Gregory Clark’s personal stories, also for my memoir, my Flip Dictionary, my NIV Bible, and some printouts of my exercise plans (to remind me I can’t sit for 18 hours a day).

I also have a shelf at the side of my desk for my scrapbooks. I use them to brainstorm (as suggested by Barbara Sher). I use lots of post-it notes, too.

Other things in my office:

The jigsaw puzzles. Can’t forget them. I have several hundred. Doing them seems to occupy my right brain so my left brain is free to create new ideas. Not difficult puzzles. Colorful, relatively easy ones.

My puzzle table was created from two unrelated pieces at IKEA and we put two strips of Velcro on the top of the stand and on the back of the top piece so the top can be removed. I wanted to stand to do puzzles because I sit way too much as it is.

Oh, yeah. The framed puzzle is a reminder of the most exasperating one I have ever done. “Hay in a needle stack.”

Only did it because Son #2 gave it to me when he was about 12. I framed it so no one else would ever have to do it.

The closet in my office is where I keep my “speaking” wardrobe and some of my jigsaw puzzles.

There are personal things in my office, too:

- A gorgeous pot I was given for finishing second in the contemporary costume contest at my very first con (Left Coast Crime in 2000). Getting it home safely by air was a bit of a challenge.

- The stuffed dog the junior boys’ basketball team I coached gave me when I was teaching high school many years ago.

- A miniature version of the poster I made for Son # 4 when he was on the winning mixed team at the 2008 World Ultimate Championships.

- A photo collage of the dog we had for 17 years. I also have a ceramic miniature poodle Son #3 gave me. It’s almost identical to our dog, who used to sit on my lap while I was writing—yes, that made things rather difficult.

- The corsage from Son # 1’s wedding.

- The picture of pressed maple leaves my sons and I made when they were much younger.

- The pen holder my dad bought a few months before his death.

- The little Hugs booklet a friend gave me.

- The official document for the land my middle sons bought me in Scotland so I could officially call myself “Lady.”

- The proof that I’m a member of Johnny Reid’s fan club (the Tartan Army).

- A plastic Mr. Happy that brings back memories of reading books to my sons.

- The ostrich I bought while on a “grandma and granddaughter” weekend last summer.

- A butterfly mobile I bought because it reminded me of who I am A picture and a few other stuffed animals I bought for myself just because I liked them.

I could go on, but what I’m trying to say is my office reflects me. It’s complicated and busy and constantly evolving. But it’s the one place where I feel myself truly free to be myself.

P. S. In the interests of full disclosure, I will admit that I have a second office. It’s in the loft upstairs and it’s not so much office as a large storage area in need of more work. It contains:

- A cupboard with my published books’ bins, handouts, magazines, and speaking paraphernalia

- Two filing cabinets

- Two desks with stuff piled on them

- A large cupboard filled with more jigsaw puzzles

- A walk-in closet for my published books

- The library – well, most of it, anyway. The truth is there are books in every room of my house.

I know. More information than you wanted.

And now, I have to go. Son #2 just stopped by for supper (he thought we were having spaghetti, not spaghetti squash!), but it was good because I had a chance to ask him about the rules of magic in a fantasy novel, so now I have to go and pull out my scrapbook and do some brainstorming.

See you.

R.I.P. David Thompson of Murder by the Book

David Thompson: A Celebration of Life

McKenna Jordan and the Murder by the Book family are planning  a celebration of the life of David Thompson, who passed away suddenly and unexpectedly on Monday, September 13, 2010.

Many have asked about tributes to David’s memory. Alafair Burke has set up a fund for those who would like to make a donation in David’s name. The charity will be determined later. For those wishing to contribute, here are the details:

Checks to the order of "In Memory of David Thompson" (NOT simply David Thompson)

Mail for deposit to:

7 E. 14th St. #1206

New York, NY 10003

For those who would like to make a direct payment please contact alafair@alafairburke.com for account information

- - -



Unbelievably sad news for the mystery community.

David Thompson died unexpectedly yesterday.

We join everyone in sending his wife McKenna, and the rest of his family, our most heartfelt sympathy.

More here - http://culturemap.com/newsdetail/09-14-10-murder-by-the-book-david-thompson-dies-suddenly-mystery-community-mourns/


Murder by the Book posted the following at Facebook - "It is with deep sadness that we must share the news that David Thompson passed away suddenly on September 13, 2010. David worked at MBTB for 21 years, & he made an indelible impression on the store & everyone who met him. There will be a memorial service, and we will share the details as soon as they are available. In the meantime, David's wife, McKenna Jordan, asks that no tributes be sent to the bookstore for now. We appreciate the loving support that customers have always given the store, and in the difficult days to come we will need it more than ever."

A storybook marriage - http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/features/6864334.html

Mysterious Deaths, and the Birth of Western Civilization by Gary Corby

Gary Corby is the debut author of The Pericles Commission.  It's the first of a mystery series set in Classical Athens starring Nicolaos, the elder brother of Socrates.  Gary lives in Sydney, Australia, with his wife and two daughters. He blogs at A Dead Man Fell from the Sky, on all things ancient, Athenian, and mysterious. More information is at GaryCorby.com.

Mysterious deaths, and the birth of western civilization

by Gary Corby

Birth and death so often go hand in hand.

Back in 461BC, in a city called Athens, the people decided that they could do a better job of running things than any group of privileged wealthy.  So they started a system where everyone got a vote.  It was the world's first democracy, and at that moment, western civilization was born.

There are other dates you could argue for, but it’s hard to go past this one: a sovereign state with one man one vote, free speech for every citizen, written laws and equality before the law, with open courts and trial by jury.  

It all sounds terribly modern, doesn't it?  More was happening too.  Modern drama was being invented at the same time as democracy.  Aeschylus was writing his plays; two young men called Sophocles and Euripides were beginning to write their own.  A philosopher called Anaxagoras developed a theory of matter in which everything was made of infinitesimal particles.  That was the birth of atomic theory.  Herodotus was traveling the world, writing his book called The Histories, and in the process founding both history and anthropology.  A young kid called Socrates was outside somewhere, playing in the street, and on the island of Kos, a baby called Hippocrates was born to a doctor and his wife.  

A lot of people don't realize all these great advances happened in a period of only 50 years.  It's the blink of an eye, historically.  The intensity of the time must have been incredible, and incredibly exciting.

The democracy didn't happen by accident.  It was pushed for, constantly over many years, by a statesman called Ephialtes.  

Then, within days of the birth of democracy, it all went horribly wrong.  Ephialtes was murdered.  
The world’s first political assassination in a democracy happened within days of the birth of democracy, and the victim was the man who created it.  This is the sort of thing you expect to read in a modern thriller.  But this is what truly happened, 2,500 years ago.

And that's the point at which my first book,  The Pericles Commission begins.  My detective Nicolaos is commissioned by the up and coming young politician Pericles to find the murderer.  It's a real, historical murder, solved by a fictional character.

Nicolaos begins his adventures right at the birth of what we know today as the Golden Age of Greece.  The Golden Age was 50 years packed with tales of adventure, war, conspiracy, lust, love, corruption, power politics, assassination . . . you name it and it happened.  If Nicolaos can survive his highly hazardous missions, he'll live to see the first years of western civilization, when politics, drama, medicine, science, philosophy, and even sport became as we know it today. 
 
This is what I love about historical mysteries, and which drove me to write my own.  The fun of solving the mystery, plus an exotic locale so strange it could be from epic fantasy, plus the knowledge that it really happened.  All right, maybe it didn't happen exactly as I wrote it.  We don't know who killed the real Ephialtes so I supplied my own devious solution.   But even so, in how many other genres can you get all that wrapped into one?  

Twists in a Mysterious Life by Thomas H. Cook

Thomas H. Cook is the author of twenty-seven  books, including two works of true crime. His novels have been nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award, the Macavity Award and the Dashiell Hammett Prize. The Chatham School Affair won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel in 1996. His true crime book, Blood Echoes, was nominated for the Edgar Allan Poe Award in 1992, and his story "Fatherhood" won the Herodotus Prize in 1998 and was included in Best Mystery Stories of 1998, edited by Otto Penzler and Ed McBain  His works have been translated into fifteen languages. 

Twists in a Mysterious Life

by Thomas H. Cook

I had not intended to become a mystery writer, which is strange since my first book was about a New York City homicide detective who is given the assignment of solving a murder.  Actually, there were two murder victims, neither of which was human.  The dead were two fallow deer, both given to the New York City Children's Zoo by a very prominent NYC family, hence the assignment to the case of a homicide detective.  The detective goes from witness to witness and, of course, finds the killer.  And I didn't think of this as a mystery?   It was, of course, a by-the-book police procedural.  I didn't realize this, however, because I'd never read a mystery, much less a police procedural.   The book was nominated for an Edgar.  Voila! I was a mystery writer.   My next novel was fully mainstream, but the one that followed it was a serial killer mystery.  My fourth book was another mainstream novel.  I was really in trouble.  Nobody knew what sort of writer I was.  In fact, I didn't know what sort of writer I was.   A friend suggested I write a series character.  I did three books with this character, then got really bored with him.   There is nothing worse than being bored by your own characters, and so I dropped the series at book three.  Now what?
 

I truly didn't know.  I moved to Spain, wrote a book so bad I didn't even submit it to my agent.  I felt washed-up, exhausted, more or less brain dead.  Then, rather suddenly, I got a new idea.  I would write a book that was both a mystery AND a mainstream novel.  That book was MORTAL MEMORY, and since writing it, I have done nothing but blend, or at least attempt to blend, elements of the crime novel with elements of the mainstream novel.   The result, at least in terms of my career, has been mixed.  I have gotten loads of critical praise, awards and nominations for awards, and loads of translations, with actual success if France and Japan, but in the U.S., neither fame nor fortune have been mine.  I have come to think that the problem is not with the books, but with the way readers in America are demarcated.   This demarcation is severe.  People who read "mainstream," rarely approach the "mystery" section of a bookstore.   As for "mystery" readers, they are equally demarcated by sub genres:  cosy, police procedural, thriller, private eye, series characters, etc.  I don't write books that fit well into any of these categories.  Once, at a speech in Nashville, a reader said, "Mr. Cook, your problem is that people don't know what they're going to get when they pick up one of your books."   My response:  "Isn't that a good thing?"   It is, in fact, a good thing, but it is hard on readers who are shelling out upwards of twenty-five dollars on a writer whose books they can't entirely predict.   This reluctance to take a chance was brought home to me recently in London.   I had just walked out of my publisher's office in Bloomsbury.   The cabbie asked if I were a writer. I said that I was and that I wrote "crime novels."  He then mentioned a very well-known crime writer and said, "I just bought the sixth book by her.  Boy, did the last four suck!"  And yet, this cab driver had bought yet another book by this author rather than take a chance on buying a book by an unknown writer, with no series character, namely Me!   The fact is, we should all read outside our comfort zones from time to time.  We should all occasionally choose an author with whom we are unfamiliar.  I sometimes think of reading only within one genre as akin to never traveling beyond your own town or farm or city.   I am currently writing a non-fiction book about visiting "the saddest places on earth," and though these places are very different, I have gotten something powerful from each of them, something I would not have gotten had I stayed home, or merely gone to various places within one genre of tragedy, say from one death camp to another.  What has made this experience moving is the variety of places I have visited.  I only wish the reading public would do the same, visit different writers, genres, worlds.

Being Your Own Boss by Beth Groundwater

Beth Groundwater writes the Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery series (A Real Basket Case, nominated for the 2007 Best First Novel Agatha Award, and To Hell in a Handbasket, May, 2009) and the Rocky Mountain Outdoor Adventure mystery series (the first, Deadly Currents, will be released March, 2011). Though she doesn’t have her own gift basket store, Beth makes gift baskets for family, friends and charity events. She was an avid "river rat" in the 1980s, running whitewater rivers in an open-boat canoe, and she has enjoyed reacquainting herself with that subculture and its updated boating equipment while researching her second series. Beth lives in Colorado and savors its many outdoor activities, including skiing and whitewater rafting, and loves talking to book clubs. Please visit her website at http://bethgroundwater.com/ and her blog at http://bethgroundwater.blogspot.com/ to get to know her better.

Being Your Own Boss 

by Beth Groundwater

In my previous life as a software engineer, I spent many years as a manager, first of one project, then more than one project, then of an entire small office of fourteen people who worked on multiple projects. I became very proficient in constructing project flowcharts, estimating the number of person hours needed to perform each task, and in tracking progress and keeping my staff on task. So why can’t I do the same thing with the one recalcitrant employee I have now, who goes by the name of Beth Groundwater?

Employee Beth would rather play on Facebook, take a break to sneak-eat a dark chocolate bar, throw in a load of laundry or go outside for a hike or bike ride or even to pull weeds than to put that butt of hers in the chair and write. Because writing is work, and work is hard, and takes concentration, and makes her head hurt. So, I, as Manager Beth, have to come up with strategies to keep Employee Beth on task, cranking out those pages, working through those edits, meeting those deadlines, and writing those blog posts!

What are those strategies? First, I break large tasks into small weekly or daily ones that can be measured. My largest task right now is to write the rough draft of the third Claire Hanover gift basket designer mystery (working title Basketful of Trouble) and finish it by the end of January, 2011. That’s because in February I need to start promoting the March 1st release of Deadly Currents and start researching and outlining the third book in that series, the Rocky Mountain Outdoor Adventures series. So, I broke my large task into weekly ones.

My average word count per page is about 275 words and my average book length is about 77,000 words or 280 pages. A reasonable output for me is 20 pages a week or 5500 words (I know! Employee Beth is a slow writer.). That means I should be able to write that rough draft in 14 weeks, with a few partial or full weeks added on for vacations, conferences, and such. Taped on my writing table right now, where Employee Beth can’t help but see it, is a weekly schedule from mid-August to the end of January, with the number of pages each week I need to write.

I start each day writing, and I don’t allow Employee Beth to do anything else (like read her yahoogroups or Facebook status updates or friends’ blogs) until that daily word count is done. And, if she slacks off and doesn’t finish the 5-day work week with at least 5500 words written, guess who’s at the computer Saturday morning?!

Now, Employee Beth is slippery and squirmy and can find all kinds of excuses and ways to delay progress, so the next strategy is to make her accountable for those weekly goals. My critique group is excellent for that, and I report to them at each of our bi-monthly meetings on how work is progressing on the manuscript. Also, I feed into Employee Beth’s Facebook habit by having her post her progress in status updates there every few days. If her friends don’t see progress, hopefully they’ll come looking for her and ask what’s up.

The last strategy is rewards. If Employee Beth meets her daily word count, she can have a glass of wine at dinner with her handsome hubby and watch a Netflix movie with him or get lost in a Margaret Coel or William Kent Krueger novel. And, if she meets her weekly goal, she can do something fun on the weekend (like whitewater rafting or skiing!) rather than sit at her computer Saturday morning.

Now all this isn’t to imply that I don’t enjoy the writing process. I do! My gift basket designer Claire Hanover and my whitewater river ranger Mandy Tanner are cool chicks to hang out with and I love their company—in my head. And when I’m in the zone and characters are shouting at each other and I’m typing as fast as I can to keep up with their bickering, that feeling is the absolute best. Not every work day is like that, however, and I need to keep on writing even when my characters don’t feel like playing. So, I look at my schedule, put my butt in the chair, open the manuscript file and start fiddling with words until something happens. My fervent hope is that my readers enjoy the result!

So how do you keep yourself on task? What are your strategies for being your own boss?

PS. Kaye asked for photos of our workspaces, so a picture of my basement writing office is below. 

Somehow, I Always End Up Writing About Food by Ellery Adams aka JB Stanley

Ellery Adams grew up on a beach near the Long Island Sound. Having spent her adult life in a series of landlocked towns, she cherishes her memories of open water, violent storms, and the smell of the sea. Ms. Adams has held many jobs including caterer, retail clerk, car salesperson, teacher, tutor, and tech writer, all the while penning poems, children’s books, and novels. She now writes full-time from her home in Virginia. 

Somehow, I Always End Up Writing About Food 

 By Ellery Adams aka JB Stanley

The heroine of A Killer Plot, Olivia Limoges, is an oak barrel heiress and entrepreneur in the seaside paradise of Oyster Bay, North Carolina. One of her businesses is a five-star restaurant named The Boot Top Bistro. In honor of this fine establishment, I thought I’d share a killer autumn cocktail and to-die-for appetizer that might be served up by Gabe, The Boot Top’s attractive bartender. 

A fair question to ask might be when do the Bayside Book Writers have the opportunity to imbibe when they are caught up in a murder investigation? Every Saturday evening they meet in Olivia’s refurbished lighthouse keeper’s cottage to critique one of the group member’s chapters, but the sudden and violent death of one of their own changes their schedule forever.

I don’t want to reveal any more that a glimpse of the plot, because it’s difficult to talk about the writers without giving too much away, but I promise a range of quirky characters in this coastal mystery. There’s the reclusive Olivia and her constant companion, Captain Haviland the poodle; the roller-skating dwarf from Grumpy’s diner; Flynn, the handsome bookstore owner; Millay, the beautiful Goth bartender; Sawyer Rawlings, the compelling Chief of Police and many more.

So come to Oyster Bay, pull up a barstool at The Boot Top and have a cocktail and an appetizer. But beware, because not all the vacationers who come to relax in this charming seaside town make it back home again.

For more info, please visit elleryadamsmysteries.com

Pomegranate Martini

2 oz citrus vodka

1/2 oz fresh squeezed lemon juice

1/4 oz fresh pomegranate juice

1 oz simple syrup

Shake well with ice and strain into a chilled martini glass. Add a dash of rose water if available. Garnish with thin orange slice or flamed orange peel. 

 

Olive Crostini Recipe

*INGREDIENTS*

1/2 cup black olives

1/2 cup green olives with pimientos

2 medium cloves garlic

1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese

4 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup Monterey jack cheese, grated

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped

1 French baguette loaf

Chop olives in Cuisinart. Transfer to medium bowl. With machine running, drop garlic through the feed tube of the food processor and mince. Add Parmesan, butter, and olive oil, and process into a paste. Add butter mixture to bowl with olives. Fold in jack cheese and parsley. Cut baguette into thin slices and spread each slice generously with olive mixture. Cook under broiler until bubbly and lightly browned - about 2 minutes. (I’d like to credit Elise from Simply Recipes for this great dish!)

Movin' On by Nancy Dillingham

Poet Nancy Dillingham is a sixth-generation Dillingham from Big Ivy in western North Carolina.  She lives in Asheville.

Moving On

by Nancy Dillingham 

We sat in the back seat

of the old black car

parked behind the smokehouse

smelling of cigarettes and shaving lotion

We drank Kool-Aid

and ate bologna sandwiches

on Bunny Bread

Sun spilling in our laps

lulling us to half-sleep

we imagined Daddy

tuning the radio

Sunday morning traveling to church

we heard the squishing and twisting of sound

until he found WWNC

The Chuck Wagon Gang sang

"Precious Memories" in close harmony

their words tumbling out of the dashboard

Daddy humming or singing along

Saturday nights he'd tune to WSM

listen to the Grand Ole Opry

while we rode down to the store

for Push-Ups and Nehi's

Let's Hank Snow, he said

when we'd get back home

meaning time to go to bed

and we'd go to sleep

the nasal sound of
I'm moving on, I'll soon be gone

echoing in our heads

It's always exciting conceiving a new book.  With each of mine, I like to plan from the whole to the specific parts.  By that, I mean I usually get inspired (thank goodness!) by an old black and white family photograph.  A theme for the book usually follows or comes simultaneously.

From the photograph, I begin planning the look of the cover and the title.  THis process can go on for months as I put my thoughts down in a notebook.  I look for quotes that I might use for an epigram and do any research that might come in handy.

For this current book in progress, I took my point of departure from an old black and white photograph I have had on my wall for many years.  Taken in 1950, it is a picture of two of my sisters and me--three ragtag little girls standing in those quaint dresses of the era in front of the grill of an old car (or truck), all chrome and old tag showing.  I've tried to find out the exact model--no success yet.

Then I thought of the song "Moving On," written in 1950 and sang by Hank Snow, the "Singing Ranger," who performed often on the Grand Ole Opry.  I put the words to the song down in my notebook.  Then, of course, I began to think of other songs we used to listen to with Daddy--he loved country music and old gospel songs.

I had just read Eudora Welty's  One Writer's Beginnings and was struck by and identified with these lines:  "I am a writer who came from a sheltered life.  A sheltered life can be a daring life as well.  For all serious daring starts from within."  I jotted these lines in my notebook also--a possible epigram for the book.

Then I saw a course listed for UNCA's Great Smokies Writing Program with poet Katherine Soniat entitled "Dreams, Memories, and Photographs" beginning in September.  I have signed up for the course.  I know that the writing courses that I often take always stimulate my creativity and aid in writing my books.

I now have the concept (and the title poem--see above) for a new book of poems.  I have the daunting but exhilarating task of following the process to fruition--to a new book of poetry.