A Slew of Reasons to Change Things Up

by Sheila Webster Boneham


For a slew of reasons,...

...I love dictionaries, although if I'm trying to get something done I should avoid them. Take this post, for instance. I set out to write about how changes in our lives can help (or hinder) creativity. "For a slew of reasons" popped into my head. Now, you should know that one of my favorite t-shirts says, "Bad spellers of the world, UNTIE," which is why I veered away from my laptop toward my Merriam-Webster. The last thing I need to do on a blog for writers and avid readers is mix my homonyms (although it turns out that slew and slue can be alternate spellings of the same word, but not always). Once I landed in the "sl’s," I wandered into etymology (slew may come from the Irish sluagh, or "multitude") and then into the linked and non-linked slews and slues, plus slough (as in a dismal swamp, not what snake skins do), and the next thing I knew I was looking up "emphysematous necrosis" (don’t ask – it’s icky!). That took me to dead bodies, which turned me back to the task at hand – my Inkspot entry. So what I set out to say is that....

For a slew of reasons, I’ve been juggling several changes this week. We moved on Monday, with considerable pre-moving over the weekend, so for one thing I’m just settling into a new house, new work space, new yard, new neighborhood. It’s all good, and although I could use a nice long nap, I also feel energized and ready to write. I love my new work space, so even though I can’t find everything, my creative juices are flowing. 

So the value of change was what I set out to write about for today. Many people fear change, and there’s no question that change is sometimes frightening and variably disruptive. Some kinds of change are devastating, and I certainly don’t wish cataclysmic events on anyone. We all know that things do change constantly, but even in our e-paced world it’s still possible to sink into comfy routines and stay there for weeks, months, years.

For some people, that may be fine. For creative people, lack of change can be deadly. Okay, not in a bullet-to-the-heart way, not literally, but in a numbing-of-the-creative nerves way. Familiarity doesn’t always breed contempt, but changing things around occasionally does breed new ways of experiencing the world. I’m not suggesting that we have to move to a new house, or dye our hair green, or take up extreme sports. I am suggesting that, at least once a week, we should try something new.



Change can turn things upside down, but when we look from new angle, we see differently. (We might look goofy, too, but that's okay!)

My new digs have me covered for a couple of weeks. Then, over the rest of the summer, I plan to tote my laptop to a couple of new-to-me coffee houses, walk and bike some new-to-me trails, start some new paintings, try a new artistic medium, and read some new-to-me authors. Maybe I’ll even try writing in a genre I’ve never tried before.

Now where in that slew of boxes did I put my dictionary?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Sheila Webster Boneham is the author of the forthcoming "Animals in Focus" mystery Drop Dead on Recall (now available for pre-order) as well as award-winning books about pets including Rescue Matters! How to Find, Foster, and Rehome Companion Animals (Alpine, 2009), The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting and Owning a Cat (Alpha, 2005), and fifteen others. Her new digs are on the southern coast of North Carolina (Wilmington, to be precise). Sheila's books are available from your local bookseller and on line. Learn more at www.sheilaboneham.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sheilawrites, or at Sheila's new Writers and Other Animals blog.

Malice Domestic Recap

Malice Domestic is an awesome conference filled with enthusiastic fans. If you haven't been, I highly recommend going whether you are a reader, writer or both. Since I don't have a book out yet, I got to enjoy the conference from both perspectives. I also got a chance to get to know my fellow Midnight Inkers. For those of you who couldn't make the trip this year, I thought I'd share some photos and fun facts about some of the fascinating personalities behind the blog.

 Cricket McCrae and Alan Orloff  (Cheese is definitely not the way to his heart!)

Jess Lourey (who can and will give your book a new, improved but X-rated title) and Vicki Doudera (who should definitely write for Cosmo.)

Lois Winston (the mop dolls are truly adorable. If only we could talk her into making one in each of our likenesses) and Vicki D.

Mary Holmes, Beth Groundwater and Darrell James. (Three authors who make it look so easy!)

Mary, Darrell and Jessie Chandler (who, I must say, just generally rocks!)

Need to pitch our fearless leader Terri Bischoff on a new series?  The bar is definitely the place to do it!

 Jess and yours truly. Add Vicki D. and stir!!

Mary, Kathleen Ernst (as sweet as she looks) Vicki  and Terri B.

The lovely, spunky Deborah Sharp.

Maggie Sefton doing her thing.

Midnight Inkers are AWESOME!!

Another Damned List

By Shannon Baker

I love rules. It’s that ol’ check list thing that gives me piece of mind. It’s the same mentality that probably made me good at school. I know just how much I need to accomplish, check it off, and I win!  Unfortunately, writing, like life, is not confined to one set of rules or one giant to-do list. There is always more you can do. Every day is another opportunity to get better, damn it. Still, rules and lists, and especially lists of rules make me happy.

I came across this from Kurt Vonnegut and it made me very happy because he’s, well, he’s Kurt-Amazing-Vonnegut. (And by "amazing" I mean that word my mother told me I could never say.)  If you’re like me, it will make your day.

Eight rules for writing fiction:

1.     Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.

2.     Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.

3.     Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.

4.     Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.

5.     Start as close to the end as possible.

6.     Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of.

7.     Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.

8.     Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

- Vonnegut, Kurt Vonnegut, Bagombo Snuff Box: Uncollected Short Fiction (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons 1999), 9-10.

I’m not sure I agree with Rule #8, but everything else has my seal of approval, even though I’m just Shannon Baker, and not Shannon-Amazing-Baker. (And yes, I do aspire to being able to insert that word my mother told me I could never say.)  Do you have a favorite rule, on this list or not? Do you agree with all eight?

INKSPOT NEWS - April 28, 2012

On Monday, April 30th, from 4 - 8 PM, quite a few Midnight Ink authors are participating in the Festival of Mystery at the Greek Orthodox Social Hall, 12 Washington Ave, Oakmont, Pennsylvania, put on by the Mystery Lovers Bookshop. They include Jessie Chandler, Vicki Doudera, Beth Groundwater, Alice Loweecey, Deborah Sharp, Joanna Campbell Slan, and Lois Winston. If you can't attend, but would like to have an autographed copy of one or more of our books, you can preorder them from the Mystery Lovers Bookshop prior to the festival.

It's Showtime!

By Deborah Sharp

They say the neon lights are bright, on Broadway -- Lou Rawls

The lights at the Shrine Club in Camden County, N.C., may not shine Broadway bright. But I still wish I'd been there when the curtain went up on a benefit play adapted from my wedding-themed mystery, Mama Gets Hitched.

Oh, sure, they did switch the setting from my fictional slice of Florida to North Carolina. And the production, made up mostly of high school students, did encounter a couple of casting glitches. Until shortly before showtime, the gal who wound up playing the Southern belle Mama character was cast as a tough-but-sexy female detective from New Jersey. When the original actress took sick, the last minute stand-in subtracted the Jersey 'tude, added some honey to her accent, stuck the script inside the pages of a prop wedding magazine, and became Mama. In the play, as in my book, the Mama character is taking a fifth stab at tying the sacred knot of matrimony when things go murderously awry.

And what about the role of the sexy female cop? That was filled by a male thespian wearing a woman's wig. Hey, the show must go on!

In the cast photo pictured, Adelle Drahos, at center, is a radiant Mama in a horrifyingly tacky pink dress. Jesse Mitchell is the the law-and-order ''lady,'' crouching at far left, with the buff arms and fetching black wig.

I never thought much would come of it almost a year ago when Adelle contacted me through my web site and asked about adapting my book into a play. It was for a good cause -- the Camden County Educational Foundation. A number of talented kids would get the chance to be involved from Camden High, which had lost its drama teacher and had no school production planned. And it would be a one-time event, during the weekend of March 23-25.

I said yes.

The local newspaper ran an article before the event. You can see a link here.


At the top left of the newspaper's web page, scroll through a few rehearsal pictures if you'd like. I'm still wondering about the one where a male character seems to be opening a fancy gift bag with some leopard-print ladies panties inside.

The area independent bookstore, Page After Page in Elizabeth City, N.C., sold autographed copies of Mama Gets Hitched, which is the third book in my Mace Bauer Mystery Series. The store nicely donated a portion of the proceeds from the book sales. The play itself brought in about $4,000 for the educational foundation -- money that will be used for grants for teachers in the Camden County schools.

At one of the first author signings I ever attended, a friend who writes kids' books invited some youngsters up to perform a scene from her latest work. I thought it was such a great idea that last fall when my fourth book, Mama Sees Stars, came out, I stole it. (To writer-pal Dorian Cirrone: I apologize for my thieving ways!) At a red carpet launch party for the movie-themed mystery, a group of local actors performed a short scene from the book. It's such a rush hearing words you wrote come out of the mouth of a living, breathing character. On the page is one thing. In the flesh, something else entirely.

That's why I wish I'd been there last month to see this talented bunch of young people mount their production of Mama Gets Hitched. Like Ethel Merman said, There's No Business Like Show Business -- even off-off-off Broadway. Besides, it would have been a hoot and a half to hear the honking Bronx accent of Mama's newly betrothed, ''Big Sal'' Provenza, on a stage in down-south North Carolina.

How about you? Have you ever heard your words read out loud in a play? Have you ever written or performed in a play?









:

Rollin', rollin', rollin' ...

By Beth Groundwater

Move 'em on, head 'em up,
Head 'em up, move 'em out,
Move 'em on, head 'em out Rawhide!

That's the song that's going through my head as I write this post on Monday to pre-schedule it for its appearance today, when I'll be on the road for a week-long whirlwind book tour back east to promote the new release of Wicked Eddies, the second book in my RM Outdoor Adventures mystery series. Monday I was planning, packing, printing, and pre-scheduling blog posts. Tuesday I drove from Breckenridge, Colorado, to the Denver airport and flew from there to Newport News, Virginia, to be picked up by my parents. Yes, I'm squeezing in a visit with them on the trip!

However, while I'm staying with my parents, I will stop by the nearby Barnes & Nobles Booksellers store to sign stock copies of Wicked Eddies, as a "hometown gal made good" author. Also, I'm speaking tonight to the Chesapeake Bay Writers about "Series Writing for the Organizationally Challenged."

Rain and wind and weather
Hell-bent for leather
Wishin' my gal was by my side.

Friday, I pick up a rental car to drive to the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, DC, where I'll drop off the car and ride the Metro to Bethesda, Maryland, for the Malice Domestic conference. This is one of my favorite mystery fan conferences, and I'm looking forward to attending. I just hope I don't have to deal with rain and wind while I wrestle my luggage from house to car to airport to Metro station to hotel. Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

At Malice, I will be on the "Three Strikes, You're Dead: Sports-Related Mysteries" panel at 1:30 PM on Saturday. I'll also attend the Guppies luncheon, the Sisters in Crime breakfast, and other conference events. Then on Sunday I'll hop into a car with some other Midnight Ink authors to drive up to Oakmont, Pennsylvania, for the Festival of Mystery that will take place on Monday.

Don't try to understand 'em,

Just rope and throw and grab 'em,
Soon we'll be living high and wide.

Monday is packed with a librarian's tea, followed by the festival, then a pizza party for the authors at the Mystery Lovers Bookshop, the host for the festival. The Festival of Mystery draws in the most avid mystery fans that I have ever seen. They buy armloads of books and love talking to the authors who come. And I love talking to the readers! Of course, the goal is to sell as many books as possible so I can soon be living high and wide. ;-)

My heart's calculatin'
My true love will be waitin',
Be waitin' at the end of my ride.

Finally on Tuesday, May first, I'll fly and drive home. And yes, I'm looking forward to seeing my true love at the end of the ride!

Kids and Mysteries

by Kathleen Ernst

Getting mail from kids is surely one of the great perks of writing for young readers. I recently got a lovely stack of letters from third graders. Their teacher had read one of my children’s mysteries, Danger at the Zoo, aloud in class.  Afterwards they spent some time on my website, and learned more about me and my work.

Whenever I get a batch of letters like this, I can predict some of the questions they contain.   But there are always surprises, too.  I think this is the first time a child asked me my beverage of choice.


Other letters are revealing in other ways.  This student thinks I shouldn’t be quite so wordy.


Several kids were interested in my Chloe Ellefson mysteries—my "murder books."



  
In that last one the child was at least asking if their parents might like them.  Still, the interest and questions reveal a quirk to consider in promoting my work.  Many kids are intrigued by the notion of murder.  And if they enjoyed one of my kids’ mysteries, they get even more interested when they discover I’ve written books that include murder.

In general, I believe kids will self-select books that are appropriate for them, and that’s as it should be.  Since these particular kids are in third grade, I explained that while their parents might enjoy the Chloe Ellefson mysteries, I was sure they’d have more fun exploring my other books written for young readers.

End of the story?  Not quite.

A short story I wrote was recently published online in Women Writing the West’s Laura Journal.  It’s darker than I usually write, and although I don’t go into details, the theme is mature (sexual abuse in the 19th century).  It earned Honorable Mention status in a competition, and now that it’s published, I’d like to steer readers in that direction.

But I have young children regularly visiting my website, and following me on my own blog and on Facebook.  Knowing that, I’m just not comfortable posting the link to that particular story in those places.  (As far as I know, we don’t have too many eight-year-olds following Inkspot.)

On the flip side, having young fans has been a boost for the Chloe Ellefson mysteries.  I’ve heard from a number of teens who read my children’s books when they were younger, and now have become avid Chloe fans.  That is, of course, extremely cool.

So…what do you think about kids reading mysteries written for adults?  Should kids be allowed to sample whatever they wish, or should certain books be labeled out-of-bounds?

Keep it Real.

Hello there.

Well, there are a LOT of things happening lately in my life. Mostly good, some bad. Got me to thinking about life in general. The good stuff is VERY good, and has to do with the road I'm on that will lead to Untold Damage being released next April. There's been the "vision meeting", where my editor gets together with the marketing people and they talk pretty much about me and my book and how my brand will be developed and marketed. Yup, I've got "a brand" now.

Never thought I'd have one of THOSE, and that's a fact.

Then there was the "launch meeting". That sounds, from what I was told, like it was more "nuts and bolts". The title was finalized, the launch day was agreed upon (well, launch month, for now), and the tagline was also agreed to. The tagline is that line you often find on the front or back cover, usually in a larger font, etc. The line that sort of gives you the theme of the book, in a nutshell.

I had submitted to Marketing my idea for the tagline, and was VERY happy to hear that they loved it and that's what we're going with. They also accepted my concept for the cover. THAT was f'n awesome of them! :-) I can't wait to see the first mock up! I got a real kicker of an email when my editor emailed to ask how I wanted my name to appear. Nice!

I've turned in the first book, and am waiting to see if there's any more to do on it. While I wait, I'm starting the second book, and already thinking about what the third one will be. Oh, and on top of that, I'm writing the screenplay adaption of the first book, so when the ARC comes out, we can say to any potential Hollywood types, "Hey, here's this great new thriller, AND here's what a movie version would look like. Cool, right?"

ALL of these developments are good and happy and golden light with skipping ponies and rainbows, naturally.

Then, there's the other stuff. My mother has been suffering from Alzheimer's for a VERY long time, and finally... she's shutting it all down, at the end of the last stages of the disease. She's being moved into hospice care, and will most probably not last another couple weeks. My sisters and I have known, of course, that THIS is how it was going to go, and we've had a VERY long time to wrap our heads around it, say our goodbyes, plan for what happens... after.

My point?

That writing books and chasing the dream of finding an agent and a book deal is all well and fine, but it does not make illness go away, or make you a better, or worse person. In the great scheme of things, this writing/book stuff means the equivalent of a spec of space dust. We live on a beautiful planet, and while writing can be a lifeline (I know it is, and has been, for me) that keeps us going to our dreary day jobs, it does not cure cancer, feed the homeless, or sparkle like a ray of sunshine on a cherry blossom.

You have to live in the moment, my friends. Yes, focus on the work, work hard, and work well... however, ALWAYS remember to look up from your computer once in awhile, and tell your loved one that you love them. Get the F up and toss the ball with your kid, or your dog. Play with your cat. Or hell, just stare at something lovely for five minutes, like a flower, or up at the clouds as they move across the sky.

We have only one go 'round in this life. Make it a life worth living, yeah?

See ya.

RkL