Mysteries of Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING MYSTERY READERS!

A quick search of Thanksgiving mysteries will give you oodles of reading options for a themed holiday weekend, but if you google mysterious things about Thanksgiving, you get quite diverse list. Here are a few.

First, from National Geographic news: Does Turkey Make You Sleepy? Hmmm... this one might surprise you!

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/11/1122_051122_thanksgiving.html

Second, from the Daily Mail: Who's that mystery man in the Kardashian's Thanksgiving photo? I know you won't be able to sleep off all that turkey without finding out.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3340400/Mystery-man-Kim-Kardashian-s-Thanksgiving-family-portrait-identified-Kanye-West-s-homie-Chicago.html

And finally, from NY Daily News: 6 Thanksgiving mysteries solved. You're welcome.

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/eats/6-thanksgiving-mysteries-solved-article-1.2883668


This Thanksgiving in addition to being thankful for my family, friends, health, and home, I'm thankful for finding a fun new genre to write--cozies! It's a blast and I look forward to writing the next book in my Dog Days series. The characters have become old friends I look forward to sitting down and visiting and getting into trouble with.

I wish you all a day filled with food, family, friends, love, and laughter.

All My Best,

Jamie Blair

Deadly Dog Days

Fiction, Gratitude, and Real Change

 

Like most of you, I've begun preparations for Thanksgiving and the rest of the holiday season. I'm also working like mad to get ready for the January 8th launch of A Killer Retreat. All things considered, it seems appropriate for this blog article to focus on gratitude. 

I’m grateful for so many things: my sweet puppy-girl Tasha, my supportive wonder-spouse Marc, the cool sweetness of the cherry/beet smoothie I drank for breakfast, the warm, soft snuggle socks wrapping my feet. I rarely, however, remember to be grateful for my admittedly saggy mattress, heat I can turn on with the flip of a thermostat, or a safe place to shower every morning.  I take all of that for granted.

 

Many people aren’t nearly so lucky.  

Like George, the murder victim in my first book, Murder Strikes a Pose.

 

George is a completely fictional character, as is the Dollars for Change newspaper that he sells.  His story, however, was inspired by vendors of a similar newspaper in Seattle called Real Change.

 

I’ve always been impressed by the tenets of Real Change.  Real Change publishes stories about the challenges of the homeless in Seattle while employing those same homeless individuals as sales people.  The organization doesn’t offer the homeless a handout; it offers them hand up: the opportunity to earn money while helping promote true social change. 

 

I have befriended many of their vendors.  Some have worked for the paper for well over a decade.   Others get the help they need and move on. One striking woman has not only pulled herself out of life on the street, she has also become an effective advocate for those who are still homeless.  Even though her situation has changed, she knows there is still much more work to be done.

 

It’s easy to walk by and ignore those less fortunate--more comfortable not to look.  But each one of those individuals is a unique human being with an often tragic backstory.  Given the right circumstances, any one of us could find ourselves living on the street next to them.

 

In the opening scene of Murder Strikes a Pose, yoga teacher Kate tries to get rid of the vendor hawking papers outside her yoga studio’s front door. Not because she’s an uncaring person, but because doing so would make her life significantly easier.  Lucky for Kate, George and his crazy German shepherd Bella refuse to leave. Inviting George and Bella into her life will soon change Kate, in every way for the better.  May we all be as lucky.

 

I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, filled with abundance, joy, gratitude, and compassion.  May all of our actions help promote real change.

 

Namaste

Tracy Weber

          

About Tracy:

My writing is an expression of the things I love best: yoga, dogs, and murder mysteries. I'm a certified yoga teacher and the founder of Whole Life Yoga, an award-winning yoga studio in Seattle, WA. I enjoy sharing my passion for yoga and animals in any form possible.  My husband and I live with our challenging yet amazing German shepherd Tasha and our bonito flake-loving cat Maggie. When I’m not writing, I spend my time teaching yoga, walking Tasha, and sipping Blackthorn cider at my favorite local ale house.

For more information, visit me online at http://tracyweberauthor.com/ and http://wholelifeyoga.com/

A long time ago the Pilgrims sailed,

To find a brand new land.

They wanted to worship God themselves,

Not by the King's command.

So begins an eight-verse epic poem written by yours truly in November of 1971. I was a fifth grader at Norfolk Elementary School in Massachusetts, steeped so deeply in the lore and legend of the Mayflower, Squanto and Governor Bradford that I felt as if I, too, had planted my shiny black-buckled shoe upon the famous Plymouth Rock.

Growing up in the Bay State it was hard to avoid the Pilgrims. The wide-brimmed hat sported by Pilgrim men (called a capotain) was on signage for our highways, the state flower bore the same name as the Pilgrims' sturdy ship, and Plimouth Plantation, the living history museum replicating a 1627 English village and Wampanoag settlement, was the default class trip for hordes of school children, including those of us from Norfolk Elementary.

It's not surprising that a young girl who feverishly penned poems, short stories, soap operas, and magazine advice columns should turn her attention to the most famous immigrants of all.

What is surprising is what happened after I wrote the poem.

I recall the noisy auditorium of the school, the kids antsy to go home for Thanksgiving break, and me, wearing a plaid dress no doubt, ushered by my teacher up to the front of the assembly. Did I read the poem slowly, emphasizing the dramatic moment when the Pilgrims nearly starved? Or did I hurry through the verses, eager to get back to my seat?

Here is what I do remember: knowing deep in my core that I am a writer. It's a feeling as solid as Plymouth Rock itself, one that reviews, contracts, and sales figures can't touch, and for that I am grateful.

Today I'm taking a little detour with my daughter before joining the rest of my family for the holiday. A pilgrimage, if you will, down the coast to Plymouth. Having been born and raised in Maine, my kids missed out on the whole Pilgrim-related indoctrination.

Fortunately it's a heck of a long ride. Happy Thanksgiving!

GIVING THANKS

Thanksgiving is less than two weeks away. Have you thought about what you have to be thankful for over the past year? I certainly have. It was just a year ago that editor Terri Bischoff offered to buy what has become my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries series. In only seven weeks ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN, the first book in the series, will be on bookstore shelves.

Prior to last November, I’d been wallowing in a huge vat of self-pity and wasn’t feeling the least bit grateful to anyone. I’d made a professional decision several years ago that I still don’t regret making, but I never expected the impact of that decision to mean that it would be nearly two and a half years between the release of my last novel and the sale of my next novel.

In those two and a half years I had several near sales, each of which fell through due to circumstances beyond my control. An editor can’t buy a book, no matter how much she loves it, if her publisher folds the line where the book would have gone. I was beginning to think I’d seriously offended the Karma gods in some way.

So when Terri made her offer, I refused to let myself get excited. I held my breath. For a long time. Not until I had those signed contracts in my hands did I allow myself to get excited. Or even tell anyone about the sales.

So I’m extremely grateful to Terri for buying my books. I’m also extremely grateful to the rest of the Midnight Ink staff who had a hand in ushering my manuscript to printed book.

Two months ago I received my edits for ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN. It was now time to decide to whom to dedicate the book. I’d dedicated my first book to my husband and children. My second book was in memory of my grandparents. For my third book I knew immediately to whom I’d write the dedication.

In 2000 I began a critiquing relationship with a group of women. Over the next seven years I developed a very strong friendship with one woman in particular from that group. In all that time we never met in person; an ocean separated us. She lived in Germany where her husband ran one of the American schools. But thanks to the Internet we’d become as close as sisters. Until Karen entered my life, I never had a friend who was so much like me in so many ways. We shared many of the same life experiences, the same talents, the same likes and dislikes. We thought so much alike that it seemed we had to have been twins separated at birth.

In September of 2007 Karen and her husband were moving back to the states, and we were making plans to meet in person for the first time. However, right before Labor Day, Karen died quite suddenly. I not only lost a fabulous critique partner, I lost an amazing friend. I felt cheated. My grief overwhelmed me. Eventually, I realized that I’d been blessed to have nearly eight years of this extraordinary woman’s intellect, humor, and compassion. Many people will live their entire lives without being touched by someone like Karen.

So as I look ahead to Thanksgiving this year, I know I’m thankful for many things, the least of which is the friendship I had with Karen Davenport.

The dedication in ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN reads: In memory of Karen Davenport, amazing critique partner, friend, and Anastasia’s biggest fan.