Views from the Irish Writing Desk

My writing spot waiting for me every morning.

By Lisa Alber

Between last month's post and today's, I spent nearly three weeks in beautiful Ireland--my fourth trip, in fact, and the best one yet. I had a list of research topics for the third County Clare mystery (2017) that I'm calling "Touch of Death." As an example of my research, I hit four hospitals in search of information about care for coma patients, psychiatric nursing, and end-of-life care.

(Aren't you curious about #3? But you've gotta read #2, Whispers in the Mist first. Coming August!)

If you thought our health care system was nuts--try Ireland's! In the end, I got what I needed and decided on what I could fictionalize for the sake of storytelling.

You know what I was mostly about in Ireland? Being. Just being. The joys of slowing down, of going deep into my writing rather than struggling to fit it in, fast fast fast, so fast that I often don't get a chance to savor the creative process.

Snow!

In my exalted state of being, I got over a massive "block" (in quotes because I don't actually believe in blocks--call it denial) that had lasted for about three months. I was stuck at about 50K words on my first draft. I wasn't feeling it--at all. Now I understand that my well had dried up. The bloody Sahara. Desiccated. Arid. Powdered. Mummified.

OH man. The trip saved me. It really did. And I fell into the most luscious, perfect kind of busy, which is to say, occupied but not swamped, making progress but not overwhelmed. You know what I mean?

I fell into a routine that went something like this:

Every morning little Aidan sat on my lap
for a bit to point at things outside.

Morning-->Noonish: I parked myself in the B&B's light and airy sunroom munching on breakfast (veggie omelet most days) and sipping coffee. Letting myself stare out the window. Over the course of my trip I noticed many things. The arrival of robins and loads of songbirds. Blooming lesser celandine. The farmer who drove by like clockwork. Rainbows and hail and sun and wind and rain and mist and even snow!

In the midst of all this gazing, writing happened. And pretty soon, I was over my "block." I'd spend my mornings writing, travel journaling, curating my photos, doing some online research (in the Irish .ie domain--much better results than I'd been getting in the States), collating research notes. The writing work part of my trip--but it didn't feel like work. Heaven!

Noonsh-->Late afternoonish: Most days I had research tasks. I did a lot of driving, which I didn't mind. I'd stop and grab shots. I'd talk to the Voice Memo app. I met up with two detectives who'd helped me with my debut novel, Kilmoon, and that was a blast! They loved receiving signed copies of the book. I'd wander off the beaten track, driving down bumpy little roads. I'd also visit tourist spots.

What a way to greet the day!

Depending on how quick the research and exploring went, I'd often drop by my favorite coffeehouse, Ginger Lou's, for more writing and a chat with the owner. By early evening, I was often at the Roadside Tavern or Cooley's House pub drinking a pint (or two) and chatting with the locals (local color!). That could last for hours.

Evening: After a full and pleasant day, I was content to hole up in the B&B, reading, doing little research/writing tasks, relaxing.

So now I'm back to reality (I still have a day job, alas, as so many of us novelists do), and I'm doing my best to ride the writing high. So far, so good!

Every day like clockwork.

The trick, I think, is learning how to keep the well filled in the midst of an overly busy life with two jobs, family stuff, life stuff, everything stuff.

I've been telling everyone who will listen that I'd prefer to live a slower deep life than a faster skimming-the-surface life. Have you noticed that modern life tilts us toward the latter? So I've been thinking a lot about how I can get some of that slower, deeper in ...

My writing spot

What do you do to keep your well filled? Any tips and tricks welcome!

Traveling to Ireland -- Woohoo! (And Happy St. Patrick's Day!)

By Lisa Alber

Oh! I got confused this month. It feels like the second week of the month, not the third. Too bad, too, because, I was supposed to post yesterday, St. Patrick's Day, and my novels are set in Ireland ... So let's pretend it's still yesterday, OK?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I've been thinking a lot about Ireland lately, and not just because my novels are set there. I'm counting the days until I leave for a novel research trip next week. Woohoo! I'll be heading here:

I inserted the picture extra large so you can see -- see right up there, that little "Kilmoon"? That's where I'm going! It'll be my hub out of which I'll venture for novel research and sightseeing expeditions.

In case you didn't know this, my debut novel, aptly titled KILMOON, was inspired by this lovely early Christian church ruin. I loved this site. It spoke to me, and so a fictionalized version of Kilmoon Church appears in Kilmoon. It's a place where bad things have happened and where secrets fester. It's central to the plot, for sure.

It strikes me funny that Kilmoon appears on the maps because there's nothing there. Literally: nothing. Except Kilmoon Church and rock walls and sheep and cows and houses here and there -- and also the B&B I like to stay at.

Kilmoon is a couple of miles outside of Lisdoonvarna, which was my destination when I first traveled to Ireland. To be honest, when I chose the B&B for that first trip, I didn't know it was two miles outside of Lisdoon (as the locals call it). I thought it was in Lisdoon. But that turned out OK because I discovered Kilmoon Church, which is located just down the lane from the B&B. I probably wouldn't have otherwise. Serendipity at work!

Lisdoon's claim to fame is its annual matchmaking festival. This festival was also an inspiration for Kilmoon, and my protagonist Merrit's adventures as matchmaker-in-training continue in WHISPERS IN THE MIST (August!). At the moment she's a reluctant trainee. She's not sure what she got herself into when she arrived from California in the first novel.

Gotta say, it's fun writing a series. Reeeeally fun to get to know my characters and help them evolve and change and work through conflicts.

When I travel for novel research, odd things grab my attention. Like these silage bundles. They seemed like hibernating alien creatures or something. You never know when some oddball thing like silage bundles will insert their way into a story. Silage bundles like these appear in Whispers in the Mist, in fact, and play an important role.

My number one priority is to remain open. Explore and experience and hang out in pubs (hehe) talking to locals. I can. not. wait. to incite a heated pub debate about our presidential nominee race. Oooh boy, that should be a riot! On my last trip, I noticed that the Irish were 1) vocal in their opinions, 2) apt to think we're a bit nutty in this side of the pond when it comes to politics, and 3) canny in their ability to see through rhetoric and BS.

OK, enough of that. As I was saying, I need to experience Ireland, but I also have particular research topics that will hopefully include me visiting a police station, a hospital ICU, and an elder care facility. This is for Book #3, after Whispers. I'll also be unfurling research tentacles for Book #4. I have a glimmer of an idea that I hope to solidify.

I'll have so much to write about for next month's post! Slainte!

So, what comes to your mind when someone mentions Ireland? Have you been?

Anastasia in Barcelona

by Lois Winston

Back in May my husband and I took a Mediterranean cruise, traveling to Toulon and Villefranche, France and La Spezia, Civitavecchia, and Naples, Italy. The cruise left out of Barcelona, Spain. Since neither of us had ever been to Spain, we flew in a day early and hopped aboard one of those double-decker sightseeing buses for a whirlwind tour of the city.

I’ve seen those buses just about all my life in New York. I’m constantly accosted by tour guides whenever I walk around Times Square (something I try to avoid!) So I had a very negative opinion of them. I changed my mind in Barcelona. We were able to plug into an audio system that gave us lots of information about the city as we drove around and were able to get on and off the buses at our leisure throughout the day as we explored various sights. The bus stops are clearly marked, and I don’t think we ever had to wait more than five minutes for one to pull up to take us to our next destination.

Parc Güell

Barcelona is a city of amazing architecture, everything from Gothic churches to Antoni Gaudi's Modernista masterpieces  to modern skyscrapers. However, it was Gaudi’s work, especially his mosaic covered Parc Güell, that made me fall in love with the city.

Parc Güell staircase leading up to terrace and marketplace

Wouldn’t it be great, I thought, to send Anastasia on an adventure in Barcelona? And that’s just what I did in Mosaic Mayhem, the second Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery which is now available.

ceiling of Parc Güell's Sala Hipostila marketplace

Anastasia is thrilled at the prospect of three days in Barcelona. She thinks all she has to worry about are making sure her passport is still valid and finding someone to care for her semi-invalid mother-in-law while she’s gone. However, within hours of arriving, she’s staring down the barrel of a gun and trying to convince a Spanish crime syndicate they’ve kidnapped the wrong woman. So much for a romantic getaway...

mosaics decorating terrace of Parc Güell

Mosaic Mayhem is available as an ebook from the following vendors:

Amazon

Nook

Kobo
Bookstore Without Borders

***

Award-winning author Lois Winston writes the critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series featuring magazine crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack. Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the series, received starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Kirkus Reviews dubbed it, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” Other books in the series includes Death By Killer Mop Doll, Revenge of the Crafty Corpse and the ebook only mini-mysteries Crewel Intentions and Mosaic Mayhem. Lois is also published in women’s fiction, romance, romantic suspense, and non-fiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Visit Lois at www.loiswinston.com, visit Emma at www.emmacarlyle.com, and visit Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog, www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com. Follow everyone on Twitter @anasleuth.

Ah, the Writing Life

Cricket McRae

I’m writing this from the passenger seat of a Subaru Outback, speeding down I-25. We’re heading for three seventy-degree days and two thirty-seven-degree nights in the Rocky Mountains. A bed and breakfast, lake view, hiking, reading, and probably nine holes of golf.

Before I was published, I had a fantasy about the writing life. Oh, I knew it was a job, and that you had to put in the hours and effort. I knew sometimes writing is hard – after all, I was writing. I just wasn’t published yet.

But when I became a full-time writer, things were going to be different. For one thing, I’d travel a lot. You can write anywhere, so why not do it someplace fun? Plus, one of the things I like least about travel is the actual, you know, travel. Time spent in airports and on airplanes, on shuttle buses or waiting for the train. But as a writer, that time becomes downright useful. We could spend a month in Mexico or New England and keep Colorado as a home base.

And then there was the conversion van idea. Smaller than an RV, but self-sufficient. We could wander the country, exploring back roads and meeting new people. I could write just as I am right now, in the passenger seat. Or sitting at a picnic table under California redwood trees, under an umbrella with my toes in the sand.

None of that happened, of course.

Like many other writers, most of my travel involves research, or a conference or convention. Promotion takes a lot of time and organization, so it’s not just a question of hanging out with my muse and churning out the words. And we have rental properties, which we manage ourselves, so leaving for a month at a time is out of the question.

So we go on little jaunts like this, and I write in the car. I’ll put in some time on the keyboard sitting on the veranda and looking up at the lake. In another two weeks I’m heading to Seattle to promote Wined and Died, and my guy will hold down the fort at home. I’ll write on the plane and set my alarm early to get in a few pages before my hosts awaken.

It’s a good life, and I love it. I’m not giving up on the conversion van idea though.

-----------------------

For the month of August my first Home Crafting Mystery, Lye in Wait, is available as a free download for the Kindle and Nook.

A Race Against Time

A Race Against Time, or: Extreme Writing
by G.M. Malliet

So, what does a volcano and Italy have to do with writing? This week, everything.

I'm set to vacation for about two weeks in Italy soon, and there never was a greater motivator to get my current manuscript in some kind of readable shape (so I have a hope of recognizing it when I see it again). I've in fact been planning the book around this trip for months, working up to the day on the calendar where I can take a break and start packing. The plan is to resume work, refreshed, and with a new perspective, on my return.

There is a sense of panic inherent in this method of working, and in taking such a large break, but an early, "fake" deadline also works wonders in getting a writer like me off the dime.

They tell me that volcano in Eyjafjallajökull (yes, I had to look that up) might erupt again and ground air traffic, but a little thing like a volcano is not going to stop me now from getting to Italy.

*****

About two weeks ago, I stopped meandering and following every bypath in the manuscript to see where it led. Instead, I began reading through the whole manuscript as fast as I could (which for me is not fast, but still). The point of this is to step back and see as much of the entire story at once as possible. To note the potholes, the incongruities, the laughable inconsistencies and redundancies, but not to get completely bogged down in fixing them right now. To simply make a mark by the places I need to revisit.

When I come back from my trip, I'll go in for the closeup view again. But reading the book now the way a reader will read it--not pausing every ten seconds but plowing straight through--is invaluable, like a movie director pulling back for the wide shot. (Before I'm done, I'll also read through the whole thing again at a medium speed, then again at a snail's pace. Before I'm done, I may feel I never want to read this book again, in fact.)

Almost there now. Nothing is going to stand between me and the reward of Italy I've promised myself as I read and edit, read and edit.

Volcano? What volcano?

Video of volcano: CBS.com
Photo of Tuscany: TripAdvisor.com
Photo of volcano: NationalGeographic.com

Travel Profile

Today's post will be short--because jet lag is still sapping my brain, calling me to bed at Texas dusk and waking me up . . . at the time of Cairo's call to morning prayer. The laundry's done, the suitcases (over limit, causing us to schlep two bags from terminal to terminal, terminally) stowed, and the 400 digital photos uploaded to the computer. And after 4 days (and regular hikes around the neighborhood), my knees, back and neck are finally forgetting the 18 hour flight back from Athens . . . grueling, but SO worth it for a 12-day cruise adventure that dreams are made of, and included:

1) A hike up to the Acropolis in Athens to see the Parthenon

2) Touring Haiga Sofia (first Christian church) AND the Blue Mosque in Instanbul--drinking Turkish coffee in the Grand Bazaar

3)Cruising through the Dardanelles toward the Black Sea

4) Tasting local wines in Varna, Bulgaria

5) Drinking vodka, eating caviar before the symphony in Odessa, Ukraine--and a first introduction to "non-Western" plumbing (gad! What do you do in heels and a long skirt?)

6) Military monuments, bullet-riddled churches in Sevastopol, Ukraine

7) Castles from the Crusades in Kusadasi Turkey, the ruins (2500 BC) in Ephesus

8) Blue, blue sea in Rhodes, Greece

9) The feral cats of Cyprus--originally imported by Constantine's wife to rid the island of snakes

10) Egypt, Egypt, Egypt: a cruise down the Nile, a *camel ride*, and the goosebumpy first glimpse of the pyramids.

Amazing fodder for storytelling. Memories to last a lifetime.

Me and the Sphinx--who'd have thunk it?

What's your dream trip? Have you taken it?

* I climbed aboard the camel--in the shadow of the pyramids--in honor of my mother, Betty Lou, a woman with an insatiable sense of adventure, a killer wit, and the bluest eyes you've ever seen. She died (after a long struggle with Alzheimers) the day before we were scheduled to fly to Europe. She'd have been furious if I cancelled. I did my best to see it all through her eyes.

Bon Voyage and Godspeed, Mom*