“Thrilling and Unpredictable” – Where a Writer Got His Ideas

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I’m delighted to welcome author Terry Ambrose as my guest to discuss his new series in the blog “Thrilling and Unpredictable” – Where a Writer Got His Ideas. I’ll be back next month – Debra 

Readers often ask writers where their ideas come from. In my case, the ideas are usually driven by a confluence of events. The Beachtown Detective Agency series idea was different in that the series concept came to me while we were on a weekend getaway to photograph two San Diego area piers.

My interest in piers started when my wife gave me a copy of Piers of the California Coast. After discovering San Diego had several piers, we decided to stay near Pacific Beach. It was a centralized destination with a nice B&B. It seemed like the perfect spot to stay because I was just starting the Seaside Cove Bed & Breakfast Mystery series, and that made the B&B location a double win.

We walked into Pacific Beach the first night, wending our way through residential streets until we found ourselves approaching a funky little town with a boardwalk. This was in the days prior to Covid-19, so we didn’t worry about crowds or getting close to strangers. It was nearing 5PM as we made our way along Pacific Beach’s boardwalk. The place wasn’t just alive; it was positively chaotic!

People of all ages were everywhere. From kids to seniors, joggers and walkers to small groups hanging out. From the smell of coconut oil to marijuana, the energy consumed my attention. It reached out, grabbed me by the muse, and shook me with a fervor that demanded I write about it.

Almost on the spot, I began crafting a character who eventually became Jade Cavendish. Jade is twenty-six years old, spunky, and not quite ready to become an adult. She’s also forced to take over the family business when her father announces his sudden retirement.

I eventually moved the location of the series to Carlsbad, which is much closer to home. Carlsbad has a different energy. Where Pacific Beach is constant chaos and manic, the Village in Carlsbad is laid-back and quirky. But, as I integrated the change in location into the book, I realized that energy fit perfectly with my long-term goals for the series. The result was a book that Kirkus Reviews called, “…thrilling and unpredictable.”

Gay Yellen: Great Balls of… Ice?

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Warning: the writer is grouchy today because the old refrigerator died.

Great Balls of Ice

It was a 1983-vintage custom-designed fridge that we inherited when we bought our home thirty years ago. It was sleek, streamlined and fit in seamlessly with the cabinetry. But it was too old to be repaired, so the search was on for a new one. My husband hoped it would make crushed ice.

The first model we chose had a delivery window of 4-6 weeks, minimum. No fridge for a month or more? Cancel that.

Moving down the row, we noticed a different brand’s floor model with a big SALE tag on it. It could be delivered immediately, and it made crushed ice. We grabbed it.

The dispenser options on the door display are Cubed/Water/Crushed. Hubby seems satisfied with the crushed. On the other hand, I have a problem with the so-called “cubed.”

Does this look like a cube to you? No. It’s a rectangular pyramid with a rounded-off top, kind of like a mini lump of half-spent charcoal. Those smart fridge engineers had to know it wasn’t a cube. Maybe “lump” was too down-scale a word for the marketing team. Sure, the pieces chill like a cube, but still… it rankled the editor in me.

For a visual reference, here’s a cabochon amethyst cut in a shape called “sugar loaf” that’s almost identical to our lumps. Obviously, gemologists are way more careful with their language.

Anyhoo, back to the new fridge, where we discovered that it also makes a third kind of ice, described in the 67-page owner’s manual as “Craft.” To our amazement, there’s a bonus shaping device that lurks inside the bowels of the freezer compartment that is more special and even craftier than your everyday two-way ice dispenser.

It makes balls of ice as big as billiard balls, and they are so extra super-duper that only three per day can be “crafted” to become the crystal wonders pictured in the photo at the top of this post. New ones announce themselves with a kerplunk, plunk, plunk that emanates from the deep.

Why are we engineering such useless gizmos for our over-pampered selves? Is there a big demand for a perfectly round chunk of ice so heavy it could tumble from your Scotch-on-the-rocks and knock out your front teeth?

This new whiz-bang appliance is too busy and bulky and bossy to love. You barely touch a door and it smugly announces that it’s keeping everything at a perfect temperature. Leave a door open longer than it “thinks” you should, and it sends out an annoying series of beeps. As if we didn’t already have more than enough things to beep at us. And did I mention that it looks like the backside of an elephant?

Truth is, I miss our old machine. I’m still trying to chill out about its replacement. Wish me luck.

Do you have an emotional relationship with an inanimate object? Love it, or hate it?

Gay Yellen is the award-winning author of the Samantha Newman Mystery Series, including The Body Business, The Body Next Door, and the upcoming Body in the News.

How I Met the Coroner

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by Donnell Ann Bell

You’ve heard of How I Met your Mother?  Well, today I’d like to talk about How I Met the Coroner.  If you’re a mystery writer, chances are you need knowledge of bodies now and then, or perhaps you need to know how to bump somebody off.  When I began my fiction career, I wasn’t particularly versed in either.  I thought experts such as coroners, police lieutenants, and FBI profilers were akin to God.

What I learned later is that they’re just people and some actually like to talk to writers.  But stuck in that I-could never-contact-an-expert mentality I started off by annoying my pharmacist – actually he was quite nice.  It’s the customers around us who were rather shocked. They seemed to take exception to my questions like how do I get my hands on a controlled substance? or I need something that would trigger a heart attack but don’t want it to show up in an autopsy.

I wasn’t having any luck.  One day I picked up the phone and dialed the El Paso County (Colorado) Coroner’s office, and a booming – and I mean booming — female voice answered.  I, on the other hand, did a fine imitation of a mouse.  “I’m a writer,” I squeaked.  “I wonder if you could answer a few questions.”

I’ll never forget her response.  “You’re who?  You want to do what?”  But when she finally answered my question, I thought, oh, my gosh, this woman knows EVERYTHING. Still, she had a job to do and I didn’t want to make a pest of myself.  I went back to writing, and because the pharmacist had not put out a restraining order on me, I decided to not overdo it with my new contact.  I would only ask questions that I absolutely couldn’t find out on my own.

Every once in a while, though, I was stuck and I called her.  After all, I was completely anonymous, and once you realize that these coroners (and experts) possess the knowledge of the world, you can’t go back.  You realize things on CSI or Criminal Minds aren’t accurate.  You take on a zombie-like persona with arms outstretched, mumbling . . . must get it right.

The addiction wasn’t going away.  In fact it became stronger.  So, I enrolled in my first Citizens Academy. (I’ve completed three, including The Writers Police Academy)  But I loved my first two so much, and appreciated what these people do for a living, that I volunteered.  Then one day, our coordinator announced, “Today, our speaker is Chris Herndon, Deputy Coroner for the El Paso County Coroner’s Office.”

I slumped in my chair.  This was the woman.  It was fine as long as she didn’t know who I was.  But what if she recognized me? What if she put two and two together that I was that crazy writer?

My curious nature isn’t always my friend, and as she talked, I naturally had questions.  The moment I asked, however, she zeroed in on me like a torpedo from a destroyer.  Her eyes narrowed and she knew.  And later when she asked, “Don’t I know you from somewhere?” I had to tell her the truth.

Turns out, she didn’t think I was that strange.  In fact, we’ve become good friends.  But I couldn’t keep a goldmine like Chris to myself. Soon, I invited her to talk to my writers’ groups.  She and I wrote a mock coroner’s inquest, presented by my local Sisters in Crime.

A few years ago, Chris and her husband Karl (a former deputy sheriff) and CSI expert Tom Adair presented a workshop for Pikes Peak Writers Conference on how to process a crime scene.

If you’re looking for accurate research, don’t be afraid to contact a professional.  What’s the worst that can happen?  They’re too busy?  They’ll hang up?  Since I began my fiction career, very few people have hung up on me.  Most enjoy helping writers.  As for me, I’m still hooked on getting it right.  That’s why I co-own Crimescenewriters with Veteran police officer Wally Lind (retired), a Groups.io forum dedicated to writers who love to ask as many questions as I do.

Have questions for an expert?  Pick up the phone, volunteer, and get involved.  When it comes to getting it right, you’ll never go wrong by going to the source or better yet getting hands-on training.

About the Author:  Donnell Ann Bell is a muti-published author of four bestselling romantic suspense novels and two books in a cold case suspense series, Black Pearl, and her latest release Until Dead. to learn more about her visit www.donnellannbell.com

 

 

October Is Breast Cancer Awareness Month–Message from a Survivor

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by Linda Rodriguez

 

October is my birthday month, which makes it quite an important month to me. It’s also Domestic Violence Awareness Month, a topic about which I, unfortunately, have a great deal of experiential knowledge from my childhood. Most well-known, it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I’d like to talk about breast cancer for a few moments today, since I am a survivor and getting every woman out there into her doctor’s office for mammograms and other breast check-ups to get the drop on this disease is something that is dear to my heart. 

In 2014, I developed odd symptoms in my right breast. My most recent mammogram had shown no problems, several specialized mammograms and ultrasounds showed nothing now, and the most common advice was to simply keep an eye on it. Fortunately for me, my primary care physician took the conservative view and wanted me to see a surgeon. The surgeon took down a detailed family history and, at the mention of my younger brother’s death from familial kidney cancer, mentioned that this type of cancer that runs in families often shows up in the women in breasts and ovaries. I was a little peeved that no one had seen fit to tell me or my younger sister about this problem leaving us at higher risk for these common female cancers. My wonderful female surgeon said, “Let’s go take a look around and see what we’re dealing with.” So we scheduled exploratory surgery of that right breast in a little over a week’s time.

The problem turned out to be nothing more than a benign cyst, as expected, but in the taking of a lump of tissue to learn that, my surgeon discovered a malignancy on the margins. Suddenly, there were more tests that showed nothing. Then, a week later, there was another surgery. The first surgery had been a lumpectomy, but my surgeon laughed and called the second surgery a “chunkectomy” and wound up taking half of my right breast. They found a number of malignancies in this chunk of tissue, including right along the margins, once again. By this time, I had acquired an oncologist and an oncology radiologist, in addition to my surgeon. They were a very puzzled team. In the pathology report, they could see all of these malignancies, but in all of the diagnostic imaging reports, nothing showed up. At this time, a regional conference, dealing with this issue in all of these fields, brought specialists from five different states right here to Kansas City, so my team took my case to the conference, and the entire conference consulted on my weird case, only to decide that they could not see anything, even knowing where to look. Therefore, we were on to another surgery, the third in the same month, the pain and stress of which was wearing me down. 

Two days before the surgery, they sent me in for a breast MRI, and for the first time, they had images of the malignancies in the piece of my breast that remained–many, many of them. Suddenly, we knew we were looking at a radical mastectomy. We didn’t know what we might be faced with beyond that, and the prospect was frightening.

The surgeon found even more malignancies than she was expecting, and the lymph glands she found were so disrupted and tangled that day that she feared the malignancies had metastasized, so she sent them to a specialized pathology lab several states away. They took several weeks to send the report back to us, weeks in which fear only grew of what that report would be.

All of this happened as my third novel was released, so I was a frantic patient in more ways than usual. Finally, we had the blessed news that we had caught this before the cancer had spread out of the breast, and it was merely to be a painful process of various treatments and recovery, we hoped. We still had no clear idea what was going on over in the left breast. It was a long, miserable process, but eventually, with the help of a wonderful team of health professionals, I am a successful survivor, and I’m grateful.

Consequently, I want to share a warning with all of my readers out there and a poem. Visit your doctor regularly for breast exams and mammograms. Take the threat of breast cancer seriously, but don’t let the fear of it keep you from actually doing the things you need to do to prevent it or to take care of it. Even if you have a weird or advanced case, as I did, your chances of survival are good, and the better you are about taking precautions and following your doctor’s advice, the better your chances of surviving and thriving will always be.

 

WRESTLING THE BODY,

this old bear

made clumsy and slow

by years,

battles lost and won,

scars, stiffnesses,

incisions,

I envy those girls

in bathing suits

and tennis shorts,

flexible, strong,

with no idea

their own breasts,

prized, displayed

with pride as they run

into and out of summer,

could kill them.

 

Linda Rodriguez’s fourth Skeet Bannion mystery, Every Family Doubt, the follow-up to Plotting the Character-Driven Novel, Revising the Character-Driven Novel, and her co-edited anthology, Unpapered: Writers Consider Native American Identity and Cultural Belonging, will publish in 2023. Her novels—Every Hidden Fear, Every Broken Trust, Every Last Secret—and books of poetry— Dark Sister, Heart’s Migration, and Skin Hunger—have received critical recognition and awards, such as St. Martin’s Press/Malice Domestic Best First Novel, International Latino Book Award, Latina Book Club Best Book, Midwest Voices & Visions, and Ragdale and Macondo fellowships.

Rodriguez is past chair of AWP Indigenous Writer’s Caucus and Border Crimes chapter of Sisters in Crime, founding board member of Latino Writers Collective and The Writers Place, and member of Native Writers Circle of the Americas, Wordcraft Circle of Native American Writers and Storytellers, and Kansas City Cherokee Community. http://lindarodriguezwrites.blogspot.com.

So You Want to Write a Book Part 6: First Draft Complete – Now what?

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by Sparkle Abbey

paper pages with notes

“It’s never too late in fiction or in life to revise.” 

-Nancy Thayer

Welcome back to another chapter of So You Want to Write a Book!

If you’ve finished that first draft, you’ve got words on the page and you’re ready for the next step.

If you’re still working on your first draft, that’s okay. Save this for later. Once you’re ready for the next stage you’ll move to – Revision.

What is revision?

  • Revision is not editing.  Editing is a very important part of the writing process, but that’s a different step.
  • Revision literally means to “re-vision” or see again. To look at something with a new perspective.
  • When you revise you look at what you’ve writing from a reader’s perspective.
  • Revising means taking a step back and looking at your writing at a high level and making sure you told the story you set out to tell.
  • Revising can include cutting scenes, adding scenes, moving scenes or even chapters to make sure the story is unfolding in the best possible way.
  • Revision is fun. (No, really it is.) And revision can often be the most creative part of the writing process.

How do I get started?

There is no one way to revise a first draft, but here are our tips:

  • Set aside your first draft for a week. Longer if you can. Your brain needs a break from the story world in order to view it from the reader’s perspective.
  • Read the draft completely through taking notes as you go. Here are some things to watch for:
    • Tone
    • Timeline
    • Point of View
    • Issues with Characterization and Character Motivation
    • Pacing and Action Gaps
    • Genre Expectations
  • Also watch for excess scenes. These are scenes where nothing is happening that moves the story forward.
  • Next, review your notes and begin the rewriting process. We’d recommend saving a new copy of your first draft and working solely on that new copy.

Here are some other great articles with information on revision.

How to Revise a Novel: 6 Steps to a Smooth Revision

8 Awesome Steps to Revising Your Novel

How to Revise a First Draft

Side Note: If you’re writing a series, make a list of anything you might need to keep track of such as minor character names, places mentioned,  and other details that will need to remain consistent.

How long does the revision process take?

A rough draft can take weeks or months depending on what you find as you read through. And the good news is that you’ll get better and better at revision the more you do it.  The average for most fiction writers seems to be 30-60 days but, of course, it depends on the size of the manuscript.

We’ll leave you with this thought.

“Rewriting is the essence of writing well – where the game is won or lost.”

  • William Zinsser

Next month, we’ll discuss “Editing Your Manuscript.”  Until then, happy writing!

Photo of authors and pets

Sparkle Abbey is actually two people, Mary Lee Ashford and Anita Carter, who write the national best-selling Pampered Pets cozy mystery series. They are friends as well as neighbors so they often get together and plot ways to commit murder. (But don’t tell the other neighbors.)

They love to hear from readers and can be found on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, their favorite social media sites. Also, if you want to make sure you get updates, sign up for their newsletter via the SparkleAbbey.com website

Clicking Our Heels – Fall is Here!

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Clicking Our Heels – Fall is Here!!!

Fall is here! It should be no surprise that each member of the Gang has a different thought about Fall.

Debra H. Goldstein – Although I hate to see the leaves drop, Fall means I don’t have to worry about keeping my white pants clean.

Shari Randall/Meri Allen – Fall has the most beautiful weather, yes? I love the changing leaves and swishing through piles of fallen ones.

Kathryn Lane – The turning of the aspen in the mountains of New Mexico.

T.K. Thorne – In addition to escape from the Alabama summer heat, I love the colors, goldenrod abloom in the fields, and riding my horse in the woods. Fall was my mother’s favorite season and I try to inhale it for her.

Mary Lee Ashford – I absolutely love fall! It’s my favorite season. I love the brisk temps, the gorgeous fall colors, and all the fall activities. When I was younger fall also always meant back-to-school and unlike some kids I looked forward to returning to school. To this day, I still get excited when they start advertising school supplies. So, give me a steaming cup of cider, a thick cozy sweater, and a bonfire and I’m content. Oh, and a book, of course!

Lynn McPherson – I love the colors and the weather. Time for hot chocolate, fireplaces, and a good book.

Debra Sennefelder – Where should I start? Fall is my favorite season. Boots. Sweaters. Pumpkin everything. Halloween-themed mysteries. I could go on.
Lois Winston – The cooler temperatures, especially since I’m now living in the south. And I thought August in New Jersey was bad!

Linda Rodriguez – Fall is my favorite season. I don’t know if it’s because my birthday is in fall, or because school starts in fall, and in my childhood, school was a sanctuary and a blessed place. I love the colorful leaves, the cooler temperatures, the crisp air, the beautiful skies, and the sense of being on the cusp of something brand new and exciting that fall always brings. Fall is the traditional New Year time for the Cherokee.

Saralyn Richard – When I was teaching in the Midwest, I used to love the crisp chill in the air and the crunching of leaves underfoot, the sweet, juicy apples, and the anticipation of new relationships and experiences that come with another year back at school.

Dru Ann Love – Get to wear a coat and can use staying indoors as an excuse.

Donnell Ann Bell – Cooler weather. I live in the Southwest. Our falls are gorgeous and so are the sunsets.

How To Read in the Fall

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Autumn has always been my most favorite season. When I was little, I looked forward to back-to-school shopping (I loved getting a new school bag) and I was so excited about the new TV season (remember when shows only had one season?). Then as I got older, I started getting excited about all the new fall fashions (bring on the sweaters!) and then as I became a baker I dreamed all summer of all the pumpkin things I bake (there’s never enough pumpkin spice). The one thing I’ve enjoyed throughout my life has been reading and reading in the fall has always been special. There’s just something about the cool weather, shorter days and cozying up with a good book.

Today I thought I’d share some ideas for reading in the fall with you.

Take it outside.

The crisp days are perfect for us to take our reading outdoors. I love the sound of crunching leaves as squirrels scamper throughout the yard with their nuts. Sure, they’ll a little distracting but it’s okay.

Curl up with a cozy in a comfy chair.

When the weather is too stormy or you can’t get to your reading until later in the night, a perfect spot to curl up with a book is in a comfortable chair. Because of the shift in dynamics within my household, I’ve rediscovered my beloved winged-back chair with ottoman in the family room. Before this month, I honestly can’t recall the last time I settled there to read. Now, you’ll find me there in the evenings after dinner.

Books and sweaters.

Nothing says cozy like a big, chunky sweater and a good book in my hands. When I take my reading outside to the patio, I’ll have on a warm sweater. Whether it’s a pullover or my Aran cardigan, I’ll be toasty and entertained. A perfect combo.

Reading in bed.

Once the weather starts turning cold, I find myself wanting to read more in bed before I go to sleep. Snuggled under my covers and my head resting against fluffy pillows is so appealing on cooler nights.

Books and snacks.

As fall sweeps in, I’m excited that I can leisurely sip a hot cup of tea as I read. I also love knowing that I can bake a treat, like cookies or brownies or pies. Not only will  I have a snack while I read, my home smells so amazing!

I hope you found some inspiration here today for your fall reading. I’d love to know where your favorite spot is to read.

 

 

After trading her Manhattan digs for her upstate hometown, fashionista Kelly Quinn has big plans for her grandmother’s consignment shop. But this All Hallow’s Eve someone is already dressed to kill . . .

A socialite’s missing dog has made front page news in Lucky Cove—complete with a hefty reward. But between renovating the consignment shop, planning her costume for a 1970s themed Halloween party, and scouting a location for a fashion shoot, Kelly doesn’t have time to search. Yet a visit to the local colonial-era cemetery—ideal for the moody atmosphere she’s after—soon turns up the precious pooch. Kelly’s looking forward to collecting the check—until she makes a gruesome discovery in an abandoned farmhouse: The dog’s owner, stabbed through the heart.Kelly can’t help wondering why Constance Lane was traipsing around the farmhouse in stilettos. But as Kelly gets decked out in a vintage disco caftan, that isn’t the only fashion misstatement spooking her. Hidden in the dead woman’s past is a secret that could be the motive for the murder. And as the Halloween party gets started, even a menacing clown and a threatening bearded lady can’t keep Kelly from trick or treating for the truth—even if it means her last dance . . .

 

Debra Sennefelder is the author of the Food Blogger Mystery series and the Resale Boutique Mystery series. She lives and writes in Connecticut. When she’s not writing, she enjoys baking, exercising and taking long walks with her Shih-Tzu, Connie. You can keep in touch with Debra through her website, on Facebook and Instagram.

The Art of Defense

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In addition to being a writer, I am a few other things, at least one of which sometimes surprises people.

When I was a rookie at the Birmingham Police Academy (many years ago) my Physical Training instructor was a short, 71 year-old man. Despite his age and stature, Mr. Alex Marshall was more than a match for any police officer on the force, often to their chagrin. He took a liking to me and suggested that I study Aikido outside of the police academy to counter the disadvantage of my gender and stature (or lack thereof).

I loved the training . . . for reasons I never thought to articulate and even married my Aikido instructor (husband #2)! But when that divorce happened, I stepped away from the martial arts for a long time. The year after I retired, I found a new dojo (school) that was founded by Mr. Marshall and started learning a system that was familiar (as Mr. Marshall incorporated a great deal of Aikido in addition to Judo and Ju-jitsu).

Mr. Alex Marshal with my current Akayama Ryu teachers—Mark Barlow and Richard Worthington

Why did I go back after thirty years? Why do I still train in my late sixties? Of course, as a writer it is helpful to pull on what I know about fighting to make action scenes realistic. And its really fun to let a character do techniques that I will probably never have an opportunity to do. But there are deeper things that draw me to the mat for two hours twice a week.

Focus: When I attend class, the world and whatever thoughts or worries I might have fade away. There is only room in my head for what I am doing. This is a form of meditation, even though it is active, resulting in a refresh and reset. I always have more energy when I leave class than when I entered.

Learning: Like all art, learning is ongoing. Learning evokes joy and wonder. Learning is play. It is what we do as children as naturally as breathing.

Teaching: Helping others achieve gives me deep satisfaction.

Self-confidence: Rose—the police-witch in my urban fantasy trilogy (HOUSE OF ROSE, HOUSE OF STONE, and HOUSE OF IRON) also studies martial arts. She observes: “It’s not about being a badass or thinking I can handle every situation that might arise, but the training has somehow restored some of the confidence I took for granted before . . . . I think it’s rewiring my brain to overwrite the role of victim.”

Studying martial arts instills a certain kind of confidence—a trust in the body and subconscious that allows one to enter a state where the conscious mind stills, and training takes over. In the movie, The Last Samurai, Tom Cruise played an American who studies Japanese sword fighting. He has studied hard but keeps losing to his trainer until instructed to have “no mind.” When he gives up trying to figure out what to do to counter the sword moves and just allows his body and instincts to react, he is able to match his teacher. (Of course, in a movie where the director only has at best a couple of hours, this happens quickly; in reality it takes a “bit” more time. 🙂

The mind (consciousness) is not separate from the body. It is an organ whose importance rises or falls depending on what is required. There are times when it is important to engage mind, and there are times when it is best to let go of mind, as we do for critical functions like breathing and heart rate and the thousands of other tasks done without our conscious oversight.

Create: A musician strives for a place where the notes are so ingrained, the fingers do without direction and the player is free to devote energy to the emotional interpretation of the music.

For a visual artist, the paint can seem to act on its own to express the painter’s deep intent.

When I am writing in the “flow,” the words come from a deeper place than conscious mind. Once they are written, I engage critical thinking to edit, but even then, a better phrase often emerges from the deep mind or subconscious. I don’t know “where” it came from, any more than I know how my body regulates my heartbeat. A skilled writer knows when to let the conscious mind still and when to engage it.

Like a ballet dancer’s perfectly executed pirouette, reacting with “no mind” to engage and redirect the energy of an attacker can create a moment of beauty and harmony that reflects something universal and profound. I will be on the mat, I think, until I can no longer stand . . . and then maybe I’ll get a chair and watch.

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

The Dream by Juliana Aragon Fatula

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Analogue Bookstore, Pueblo, Colorado 2022

 

 

Bridging Borders Writing Workshop mentoring for leadership with young teenage girls.

 

The Dream by Juliana Aragon Fatula

I woke this morning and immediately had to record my dream. Vivid and full of similes, alliteration, metaphors, onomatopoeias, rhymes, imagination, and details about a past life and a bright future. The dream arrived on September 9, 2022, at midnight in my home on a full moon. I had an epiphany after this dream. It healed my broken heart and guilt complex over my son’s struggle with drug addiction. I hadn’t slept the night before. A full moon kept me from my dreams. I was awake until 4 a.m.

In my dream, I tried to rescue a teenager, 14-year-old Chicana. She was me. In the dream I didn’t know it was me. She was pregnant and about to get married in love with a man. She was on her way to California from Colorado to marry the father of her baby. And in the dream, it turned out that he was my ex, the father of my son. My son will be 50 this year. In the dream, I was meeting myself. She was pregnant with a son, maybe the son was my son. She was about to marry my ex.

I realized who she was, not even realized that she was me, just realized she was someone like me. I became friends with her, and she invited me to return with her to California to the wedding, as her friend. I immediately said yes. I packed my bags and off we went. We arrived at the wedding, and she introduced me to her parents and twin brother. I don’t have a twin brother. I’m not sure how to analyze that part of the dream, but it will come to me.

There were two of them, a male and a female. The bride sent us to pack up the gifts from the wedding. I shared my secret with her brother. We sat down in a corner and he asked me, “How Mexican are you?” I said, “I’m not Mexican. I’m Chicana. I didn’t want to talk about me. I wanted to talk about his sister. She had a twin, a male twin. I could talk to him because he would feel differently about protecting his sister. I could see in his eyes that he was thinking, why is this woman friends with my sister? She’s the ex of my sister’s husband. She’s here to disrupt and ruin their marriage.

I could see that he had observed this man and the brother had doubts, so he listened. I told him go with your sister when she marries and protect her. I was alone, and I had no one. We talked until his sister yelled at us for not getting the boxes sooner. She wasn’t feeling well. We returned to the party and noticed a lot of the guests weren’t feeling well, and in my dream, I thought of the Covid 19 Pandemic.

The groom’s family eyed me suspiciously; they weren’t friendly; they knew who I was, they knew why I was there. They didn’t try to stop me. Out of the corner of my eye I could see my ex watching me talk to his bride, but he didn’t stop me. The bride was not feeling well. I asked her to sit with me and rest. I didn’t tell her about my ex. I had told her brother and she didn’t ask; she didn’t want to know. I understand that. She was young and in love and carrying her husband’s child.

She was feeling sick and weak. Many of the guests were sick. Did they die? Did they get so sick they ended up with long haulers? Did they suffer? Did their loved ones mourn their death and weren’t allowed in the hospital room with them because of contagion and infection? I don’t know. I don’t know what it means. It was a dream.

When I woke, I knew I had to record the dream. It’s not a story I made up; it’s a dream I had on a full moon. My subconscious trying to heal my broken heart by trying to save my younger self. If I write it down, I will understand it, and if I share the dream, it might just save someone. In life, my ex died from his years of using heroin and methadone. He didn’t survive. But I did. And my son survived. I’m sharing my story.

Spotlighting an SG Sister

/in /by

Having read T.K. Thorne’s House of Rose, and loved it, I’m obsessed with how one person could accomplish so much while excelling at everything. If you want to know, too, read on.

 

T.K.Thorne has been passionate about storytelling since she was a young girl, and that passion only deepened when she became a police officer. Serving for more than two decades in the Birmingham (Alabama) police force, she retired as a precinct captain and then as the executive director of a downtown business improvement district, to write full time. Her books include two award-winning historical novels (Noah’s Wife and Angels at the Gate); two nonfiction civil rights era works (Last Chance for Justice and Behind the Magic Curtain: Secrets, Spies, and Unsung White Allies of Birmingham’s Civil Rights Days); a dally with murder, mystery, and magic in the Magic City Stories (House of Rose, House of Stone, and House of Iron) and a YA science fiction, Snowdancers. She writes from her mountaintop home northeast of Birmingham, often with a dog and cat vying for her lap and horses hanging out in the yard.

Here’s the description of House of Rose:  Rookie patrol officer Rose Brighton chases a suspect down an alley. Without warning, her vision wavers, and the lone suspect appears to divide into two men–the real suspect, frozen in time, and a shadow version with a gun. Confused by what she’s just seen, but with no time to second guess it’s meaning, Rose shoots the real suspect in the back.

Forced to lie to detectives, she risks her job and her life to discover the shocking truth of who she really is–a witch of an ancient House, the prey of one powerful enemy, and the pawn of another.

Set in the Deep South city of Birmingham, Alabama, this is the first book of the Magic City Stories.

I had the privilege of interviewing T.K., and here’s what I learned:

  1. As a former police captain, you must have created Rose from some of your own experiences. How is she like you, and how is she different?

Funny you should ask. I created Rose as I’d liked to have been! Unlike me, she is 5’8” (I was 5’3”); she has decent-sized hands (mine were too small to hold a gun correctly); and she is young and gorgeous. She is also a witch, of course, with interesting abilities while I, alas, am just an ordinary ole human. On the similar side—she has an incorrigible sense of humor, questions everything, and seems to find herself in “trouble” without trying.

  1. I’d never heard of a red diamond, but, after reading House of Rose, I researched it and learned about its rare beauty. How did you decide to write about a red diamond? Have you ever seen one in person?

Diamonds have always fascinated me (my birthstone) and maybe it was the fact of Rose’s name that made me go in that direction. “Rose” was my grandmother’s name, and the incongruency of the sweet-little-old-lady image versus sharp (protective) thorns, along with the play on my married name (Thorne) intrigued me.

 

Roses come in many colors (as do diamonds), but I was drawn to red as a very rare color and, of course, traditionally related to roses. Diamonds are actually unique carbon constructions that are being considered for energy storage, in fact, they can even contain radioactivity! The true nature and function of the rose stone diamond in my book is revealed in the second book, House of Stone, so I don’t want to give away a spoiler, but it is extrapolated from the extraordinary structure of diamonds.

 

Never seen a red one, but I think it would make a great anniversary gift, don’t you? (My husband will be proofing this.)

  1. Your love for all things Birmingham spills into your writing and makes me appreciate its culture and history, too. What’s it like to be a local author with a series set in your hometown?

As people who live or lived in Birmingham discover the trilogy, they tell me how cool it was to read about places they knew or existed under their noses. We did the first book launch at a historical location mentioned in the book. The owner was so excited. Much fun!

I didn’t grow up in the city but moved there after college and lived in a house on the Southside that was the inspiration for Rose’s neighborhood. It was also where I lived when I was a police officer working in that precinct, so it made it easier to envision Rose’s world.

Birmingham is unique in that the three ores needed to make steel (iron ore, limestone, and coal) are found within proximity to each other. That discovery in the late 1800s gave rise to a boom town that grew so rapidly it was nicknamed “The Magic City.” Those three ores are the basis of powers for the legacy family Houses in these books (House of Rose, House of Stone, and House of Iron).

At the same time that I was writing these stories, I was also working on a nonfiction project (now out) set in Birmingham—Behind the Magic Curtain: Secrets, Spies, and Unsung White Allies of Birmingham’s Civil Rights Days. Those same ores gave rise to a set of circumstances and economic forces that propelled the city into turmoil and onto a world stage. So, I was looking at Birmingham through very different lenses—real/imaginative, past/current—at the same time.

  1. When you wrote House of Rose, did you envision the series? What are the advantages of series writing?

House of Rose was a spontaneous story that began when I was brushing my teeth one day, wondering what my next writing project would be. Three little words just popped into my head, and I hurriedly rushed to computer to write them down, having no real idea what they meant, but feeling the muse stirring.

Those words were “You’re a hero.” As I typed, it turned out Rose’s sergeant said them to her after she shot a man in an alley. That was the first moment her heritage revealed itself, but at the time she had no idea what had happened or that she was a witch of an ancient, dying House, the prey of a powerful enemy, and the pawn of another.

I didn’t either!

Eventually, the notion of the different Houses evolved, and I realized the story needed three books. To answer your question, I did not set out meaning to write a trilogy. But the advantages to writing multiple books with the same characters are primarily that the world is established, and the characters become multidimensional and very real, seeming to respond on their own to whatever is thrown at them by the sadistic author.

  1. Your prose is superb, and your books have won high acclaim. What advice would you give to a new writer who wants to follow your star?

Many thanks for those kind words that mean much coming from you!

 

I’ve been writing for decades, and I assure you my early attempts (which are still “in the desk drawer”) were rough, but I kept going and that is really the Secret. In addition, a good writer analyzes everything—books, movies, and that best source of emotion and perception, ourselves.

  1. You write in multiple genres. Tell me something about your other books.

It’s true that I don’t know what I want to write when I grow up, but so far, I have two historical novels about biblical women no one thought to name or give more than a cursory line—Noah’s Wife and Angels at the Gate (Lot’s wife). Then two civil rights nonfiction, Behind the Magic Curtain, which I’ve mentioned, and Last Chance for Justice, which covers the forty-year search for justice for the 1963 Birmingham church bombing that killed four young girls. Additionally, I have a YA science fiction, Snowdancers, and am working on a mystery/thriller with a working title of The Old Lady about a retired police officer with a penchant (clearing throat) for finding trouble.

Getting to know T.K. better has been part educational, part magical. If you could interview the author of any great book you’ve read, who would it be?

Purchase House of Rose at https://www.amazon.com/House-Rose-Magic-City-Story/dp/1603817581/ref=

 

And check out my books at Amazon.com: Saralyn Richard: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle