Counting Down

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Misa Ramirez is the author of the Lola Cruz mystery series: Living the Vida Lola (January ’09) and Dead Girl Walking (2010) from St. Martin’s Press Minotaur. A former middle and high school teacher, and current CEO and CFO for La Familia Ramirez, this blonde-haired, green-eyed, proud to be Latina-by-Marriage girl loves following Lola on her many adventures. Whether it’s contemplating belly button piercings or visiting nudist resorts, she’s always up for the challenge. Misa is hard at work on a new women’s fiction novel, is published in Woman’s World Magazine and Romance Writers Report, and has a children’s book published.

The countdown is on…13 days until Living the Vida Lola, the first book in the Lola Cruz Mystery Series, hits the streets and I can hardly believe it. It has been such a long and winding road; so many times I thought I was living a pipe dream [still am, since just because the book will be out, there’s no guarantee that it’ll sell in great enough quantities to build a solid career, but I’m hoping!].

13 days until I hold my creation in my hands.

13 days until others see the books vibrant turquoise color and sassy figure of Lola.

13 days until…I start focusing on my current work in progress. Dead Girl Walking, the second book in the series, is already with my editor and in the editing stages.

The countdown is fun. It’s invigorating. We moved from California to Texas this year in part so that I could quite my day job of teaching to focus on writing full time, and here I am, less than two weeks away from seeing my first book in the flesh, so to speak. Having dedicated writing time is amazing, but what I’ve realized is that publishing this book is not a means to an end. It’s really only the beginning. The first baby step in the career I’m trying to build. I’ve got book signings lined up, I’ve got two release parties planned–one in California and one in Texas–and I’ve done blog tours and guest posts like this one. When you’re not already a bestseller and don’t have massive publishing dollars behind you paying for placement and ads, the future is uncertain and luck plays an awfully big part of it.

And so, while I’m still counting down the days, I’m turning my full attention to the third book in the series, Bare Naked Ladies. It’s part way done and so much fun to write [crime at a nudist resort, anyone?!]. I’m also going to continue to work on a new book that’s in progress tentatively called The Curandera and the Chain Tree, the first in a Curandera Mystery Series.

And, as if that’s not enough, I’ve also been contemplating a book and/or series for younger girls [8-10 years old], something my daughter would love to read. Just because I think it would be fun and I’d love to write something for her.

I have a lot coals in the fire, and am stretched thin at times, but I’m doing what I love. I am living the dream and it’s as good as I imagined it would be. So ¡Viva Lola! I hope you join me on the ride. 🙂

There’s a quote that goes something like: If you want something done, ask a busy person. What I’ve realized is that I need all the coals in the fire…it keeps me focused. The more free-time I have, the less attentive I am with the tasks I have to get done. Are you one of those busy people who, the less time you have, the more you actually get done?

Misa Ramirez
http://misaramirez.com/

Running Out of Food and Other Holiday Memories

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The holidays are fading from our memories, the tree is down, the ornaments away, and the house is back to normal. Well, sort of; it’s never really normal around here. Here are my memories of Holiday Season 2008, just a few short weeks in the past.

1. Hosting Christmas Eve: Every year, I host a Christmas Eve party for my side of the family. Celebrating Christmas Eve in grand style has been a tradition since my brother and sisters and I were kids, because my dad usually worked Christmas Day and this was our chance to open presents and have him blind us with the flood light from the 16mm handheld camera that was so popular in the ‘60s and ‘70’s. (Don’t tell me that you don’t have movies from that era where everyone is squinting or shading their eyes from the light…is it any wonder that most of us wear glasses now?) I began hosting this event about five years ago after my parents downsized from our childhood home to a smaller place…which in actuality, is probably bigger than my place but that’s the excuse my mother used to get out of hosting twenty people every year and who am I to argue?

I had what looked like a twenty-pound beef tenderloin but in actuality was probably about eight or nine pounds. People, that’s a lot of meat. Trust me. I also had homemade macaroni and cheese, two Pyrex dishes of scalloped potatoes, brussel sprouts (nobody ate those), roasted butternut squash, peas, and bread. The main meal was served AFTER copious amounts of hors d’oeuvres, cheese and crackers, champagne, and nuts were served and inhaled. My husband and I did FHB (family hold back) and made sure everyone had eaten before picking up plates to go down the buffet line, only to find that there wasn’t a morsel of food left. Nothing. Well, the brussel sprouts were there but being as he hates them and I’m on a low-roughage diet (not a topic for any blog post), we looked at them sadly and kept walking. However, we surveyed our guests, who were happily chowing down on everything else, and decided that our hunger was secondary to their happiness and had extra dessert to make up for it.

The moral of this story: next year, either add a full tray of lasagna to the mix or buy two tenderloins. My family, apparently, comes very hungry to this event. I was a very embarrassed hostess, although everyone who ate assured me that it was delicious, they ate enough, and there was nothing to worry about. Just like family should.

2. Oral surgery: In the midst of all of the holiday hoopla, I had oral surgery. (And many thanks to the northern half of Evelyn David for talking me down prior to it. I was fairly hysterical going into it.) I was supposed to have it on December 19, but being as we were to have a “snow event,” as the weather people euphemistically call a heck of a lot of snow, I was told the night before by the office manager at the periodontist’s office that the procedure was cancelled. I celebrated with some Williams Sonoma toffee and a glass of chardonnay, knowing that when I eventually had the surgery, both of those items were out of the question. I woke up the next morning, saw no snow, and wondered if cancelling had been such a wise idea because I knew that I would never reschedule the appointment and live with the half tooth that was still in my mouth. Then the phone rang at 7:15 a.m. It was Dr. C., the periodontist, who also saw no snow, and said “come in by nine and I’ll have you home by noon.” Well, now I wasn’t mentally prepared. So, Jim drove me up there, and I cried the entire time, knowing what I was in for. I cried in the waiting room, I cried when he strapped on my bib, and I cried until I fell asleep from the medicine Dr. C. gave me. And then I was awake—a little ornery but none the worse for wear—and in the car, driving home in a blizzard (fortunately, Jim, the best snow driver there is, was behind the wheel). The snow did come, I did have the surgery, and to tell you the truth, driving home was worse than the actual procedure.

I saw Dr. C. the other day to get my stitches out and proclaimed him “the gum surgery whisperer.” The guy was amazing. My pain pangs were few and far between. I took two pain pills—one when I came home and one before bed that night—and then didn’t even have to take an Advil to get through the day after that. I have to go back for another procedure in another month or so and I promised him that I wouldn’t cry. And that I wouldn’t yell at him when I woke up from the anesthesia like I did that day. He took it all in stride like a good periodontist should.

3. Vacation: I took an actual two-week vacation. I haven’t done that in years. I turned my computer off on the 19th (the day of the dreaded oral surgery) and didn’t turn it on for days. It was a wonderful feeling and I wasn’t sure I could do it but I recommend it highly. I turned my attention to doing things around the house that I had been putting off—donating books to the library, going through the clothes and house wares and making a few trips to the Goodwill Store, organizing my office—which was extremely gratifying if you’re a Type A nut like yours truly. But it’s back to work this week and I feel rested and rejuvenated. Just in time to start writing Alison Bergeron #5, getting back to my other jobs, and getting back into the school/work routine.

So, holiday memories, please? What did you do? Anybody else run out of food? Have too much? I’m glad to be back blogging with the Stiletto Gang and am looking forward to hearing from you. Happy new year!

Maggie

Happy to Be Back

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It seemed weird not to be writing a blog for the Stiletto Gang on Tuesday. I’m glad to be back in the groove and hanging with my young gal pals.

We had a most extraordinary Christmas holiday time. We open gifts on Christmas Eve after our dinner. I do something different nearly every year. This year I cooked a turkey and all the stuff that goes with it because I hadn’t cooked on Thanksgiving. Our guests were my youngest son (who is not so young), his wife, grown daughter and two grown sons, my middle daughter and her husband, and the son of my youngest daughter who has been living with us. This was his first Christmas in five years–and it was great fun seeing his enjoyment. His mom had sent his presents home with us at Thanksgiving, and of course we also had gifts for him. He’s had his troubles over the years, but things are finally looking up for him.

Christmas day was a smaller group, and except for the fact that I cooked a standing rib roast, everything else was left-over from the day before–still yummy. Granddaughter’s boyfriend joined us this time. We all watched a movie after dinner. Then hubby and I went over to another granddaughter’s house who has three kids and an extra young man living with her and her husband. We had a good time admiring the kids gifts and visiting with everyone.

The following day, hubby and I used a couple of the movie tickets we’d been given and went to see the Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons. Good, good movie even though the theme is really death and dying.

Just to explain something about our family, we’ve always taken people in. Back when we had all of our kids at home, we had a foster boy for a year-and-a-half. At various times our kids brought home other kids whose family life wasn’t so great who ended up living with us for different lengths of time.

We raised one of our grandsons from the time he was 11 until he was 20 because his mom was not doing well. Now we have another.

Long after my middle daughter’s two kids were long gone she and her husband became the legal guardian for a teen-aged girl. There oldest daughter, the one with the three kids and her husband have taken in several teens over the years. A couple of boys from a foster home and gave them a place to live until they went into the service. Unfortunately, in California when a foster child reaches 18, they’re booted out on their own. Most of them don’t have families to go home to.

I’m proud of my family–and glad they are willing to share their homes with young people who need a place to stay. Of course everything doesn’t always turn out hunky-dory, but that really doesn’t matter. They did what they needed to do at the time.

That more or less brings you up-to-date on the Meredith family saga. And yes, I did make a New Year’s resolution, to spend more time on my work-in-progress and less fiddling around with blogs.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

Got Crime?

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My holidays were rich with family and friends, way too much food, way too little exercise, and a final read-through of the proofs of Murder Takes the Cake. As other authors will readily understand, there is always that niggling doubt, when you hand in a manuscript, that the story won’t hold up, that you’ve missed the mark, and it’s just 90,000 words going nowhere. So I was so relieved when I finished my proofing duties to discover that I like the book. If I say so myself – and I will – it’s a really good mystery that I think will delight and confound you. A sneak preview will be on sale at Love is Murder (where the Southern half of Evelyn David will happily sign copies), and in general release in May.

But news articles during the holiday season also gave me more than enough material for a dozen other books. It started me thinking about the relativity of evil. On Christmas Eve, Bruce Pardo dressed up as Santa and went on a murderous rampage against his ex-wife and her family. It wasn’t enough that he killed the woman to whom he had been married for barely two years. He also shot in the face an eight-year old little girl who answered the door in gleeful anticipation of meeting Santa. For that child, this killer murdered man and myth at the same time.

Earlier in December, the incredible Ponzi scheme of Bernard Madoff was finally exposed, but not before he had bilked investors out of 50 billion dollars. Now I have trouble conceiving of what you can do with a million dollars, so I am hard-pressed to figure out how Mr. Madoff spent all of his ill-gotten fortune. I mean just how many houses can you buy? How many tailored suits? Lobster and foie gras dinners?

Pardo’s horrific storm of terror ended with nine dead and the killer taking his own life, only because his elaborate escape plan failed. In contrast, Madoff’s quieter, but equally destructive tornado of greed has left hundreds of survivors penniless, one investor dead from suicide after being wiped out by the Ponzi scheme, and Mr. Madoff still on Park Avenue. Had he knocked over the corner candy store, he’d be doing hard time waiting out his trial on Riker’s Island. Instead, he is confined to his plush apartment, suffering only the indignity of an ankle bracelet.

For those who would argue that Madoff’s crime is only about money, I would counter that we don’t yet know the ripple effect of his deed. One investor committed suicide, but could it be considered murder since Madoff’s fingerprints are in effect all over the gun? And let’s take this relativity discussion a step further. It’s one thing, in my mind, for a rich man to steal from another wealthy investor. I could even allow that investors must shoulder part of the blame since they should have done due diligence, not glommed onto a get-rich scheme that was too good to be true.

But Madoff crossed the line when he stole $92 million from Hadassah Medical Center in Israel, an institution nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize because of its equality in treatment of Arabs and Jews, its ethnic and religious diversity, and its efforts to build bridges to peace. Madoff sinned when he wiped out the assets of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity, an organization dedicated to combating indifference, intolerance, and injustice. To me, stealing to provide food for your family is still wrong, but perhaps understandable. Fleecing the rich of some of their ill-gotten gains is also wrong, but maybe it is only money. Stealing from institutions who support the poor and downtrodden – suddenly I can see no excuses.

Life is not black and white, and there are shades of grey even in crime. That’s why you have degrees of capital crimes: premedidated like Pardo’s rampage; reckless when you’re driving drunk; justifiable when you’re defending your family. But while the Santa-dressed killer’s crime flashed across the front pages of the newspapers and dominated the airwaves, I’m reminded that Bernard Madoff’s crimes were equally horrific. It’s similar to the difference between the ground soldier and the bombardier. One can see the impact of his actions, the other cannot. But the swath of death and destruction caused by the bomb dropped from the protective cocoon of the clouds can be broader, wider, deeper than the foot soldier with a rifle.

In our books, Mac Sullivan, Rachel Brenner, and Whiskey confront evil, but you can be sure, they also always defeat it. The good guys will always win in the Evelyn David mysteries. Would that life be so simple. But as we begin a new year, I’m going to focus on the fact that there always have been and will continue to be, good people like the ficitional characters I help to create.

With a belief in the good of mankind, all best wishes for a happy, healthy new year.

Evelyn David

Happy Holidays!

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The Stiletto Gang wishes you and yours the most joyous holiday season and all the best for a happy, healthy new year. See you bright and early January 5, 2009!

Maggie Barbieri
Evelyn David
Susan McBride
Marilyn Meredith

No Time Like the Present

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Author and entrepreneur Lisa Dunster Moeller is the creator of Common Threads Journals, a one of a kind line of journals designed to have more than one owner in its lifetime. Motivated by a desire to help her two best friends through the difficult experience of divorce, something she too had suffered, Lisa began to collect bits of advice and other words of wisdom to pass on. Her writings, collected in a small, hand decorated blank book, became the first shared journal.

The idea that everyone has insight that someone else will find helpful inspired Lisa to reach beyond her personal circle of friends, hoping to inspire people to renew their sense of connectedness to one another. Lisa believes that by reaching out through the universal experiences of love, loss, triumph and tragedy, we learn to celebrate the things that unite us and make us one. Common Threads Journals were created to give everyone a way to record and share their stories.

~~~~~~~~~
Recently it seems as though my life has been one reminder after another that life is short. It’s a bit cliché I know, a phrase we hear all the time, but it makes it no less the truth…there is no time like the present. These recent reminders have been weighing heavy on my mind, so I decided to set aside my original plans for this guest post and send out a message to the readers of this great little blog that feels a little more important.

With the holiday season upon us, lots of people are busy shopping for presents for the people they love. As the hustle and bustle of the holiday season begins to take over your life I’d like to suggest you give yourself a present too: take time to nurture the relationships with the people you love. Everyone likes to receive gifts, but really there is no greater gift than making time for someone…and there is no time like the present.

The idea that we might lose someone close to us, like a spouse or a parent, is one of the most terrifying feelings there is. It is during those times in our lives that it is easy to make time for the people we love. We feel vulnerable when mortality stares us in the face, and those times often leave us taking life a little slower, taking time to smell the roses (to use another bad cliché), and spending more quality time with our loved ones.

Sometimes just being on the fringe of an experience like that can be a good reminder, which is where I found myself recently when someone I love very much was faced with the possibility of losing a parent to cancer. Following that experience with my friend, my husband and I were in a vehicle collision caused by icy roadway conditions. We were extremely fortunate not to be hurt and not to have seriously injured anyone else. We found ourselves counting our blessings and telling each other we loved each other a little more often than usual.

There are plenty of examples of life experiences that send us that message, that important reminder that life is too short for anger or regret, for anything but love and meaningful connections. What I’d like to see, however, are more of us living our lives according to that message, without needing to have the importance of it scared into us by a near tragedy. I realize that is not a simple task, because our daily schedules are busy and sometimes even unmanageable. I know the holiday season is no exception to that chaos, but really, if you don’t start now, when will you?

I’m not suggesting you clear your schedule and turn every minute into quality time spent with family and friends. It doesn’t need to be that drastic. Perhaps it could be a phone call to an aunt you don’t see as often as you’d like or an email to a friend you’ve been falling out of touch with. Maybe, as a friend and I recently discussed, it could be spending a day with your mom going through treasured family heirlooms and documenting where they came from, so that when she is gone you’ll know which teacup belonged to your great-grandmother and that the lamp table you would have otherwise gotten rid of had been crafted by your great-great-grandfather.

My books, The Common Threads Journals, are all about the importance of making deeper, more lasting connections with the people around us. I spend a great deal of my time talking to people about my books and about the importance of connecting with others, but even I have trouble doing it sometimes. Apparently the universe recently decided I needed a reminder: I needed to live my ideas not just talk about them. Unfortunately I don’t always get the message right away, so it has to be sent several times, in several ways, just to get my attention.

My wish for you is that you start making time for the people in your life before the universe decides it needs to get your attention. Start taking some steps to nurture those important relationships. Tell the people you love that you love them: tell them often. Start doing it now. Don’t wait to be hit over the head with the message, because there is no time like the present.

Lisa

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Lisa Dunster Moeller, a Northwest native, was raised in a small town by loving parents who instilled in her the importance of service to others. Still a small town girl with a big sense of her responsibility to the greater good, Lisa works as an administrative specialist for a municipal police department in Washington State while managing the family pumpkin farm along with her husband. She also volunteers for various charities, including the American Cancer Society, and is active in her community.

Storybook Acres Press
PO Box 245
Everson, WA 98247
Phone: (360) 441-5065
http://www.storybookacrespress.com/
http://commonthreadsjournals.blogspot.com/

To purchase the books online:
“Celebrating The Holidays”: http://tinyurl.com/5e543s
“Healing A Life Unraveled”: http://tinyurl.com/6cgtvt

Tools of the Trade for Writers

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My recommendations five years in –

1. Buy a computer, flat screen monitor, and printer. (Okay, the flat screen monitor is not strictly necessary if your eyes are very young. Buy a computer with as much RAM, processor speed, and hard drive storage as you can afford.)

2. Buy and install Microsoft Word. (Yes, you can use other word processing software, but this is my list and that’s my recommendation. Plus most agents/editors/publishers want your manuscript delivered in Word. I hear you grumbling, but I too used WordPerfect for years and was able to teach myself Word. You can learn to use it. And the Home and Student version is not that expensive.)

3. Set up an internet connection. (Hopefully something faster than dial-up since the writing, finding an agent and acquiring a publisher will provide more than enough frustration). Make sure you have up-to-date virus protection. I don’t care for “security suite software.” Too many programs to slow down your computer. Between pop-up blockers, phishing protection, and extra firewalls – surfing the internet can become more like sitting on a leaky air mattress and paddling with your hands. Yeah, you’re safer but it’s not much fun. McAfee Virus Scan, kept updated, along with the firewall that comes with your computer operating system is usually more than adequate unless you troll the bad part of town a lot. If you like Norton, great. But if you ever want to change to something else, you’ll find Norton has buried itself into many of your software programs and is almost impossible to remove.

4. Build a website. If you’re ever lucky enough to have readers, they’ll expect you to have a website. Lots of places on the web will host your website for a small monthly fee. They have software on site so you can build your own or you can hire a web designer to do it for you. If you have extra cash hire the web person. If not, you can learn to do it yourself. There is an enormous amount of information on the internet about websites available. Hey, if you’re a writer, you should be a reader. So read … you can learn just about anything by reading and practicing. (I’m also giving myself a little pep talk with this blog. I’m trying to learn how to animate graphics. Four hours and now I can make a dog wink.)

5. Set up a MySpace page and make friends. Every friend you make is a potential reader of your book. Plus, you meet some great people. Sure you’ll get the occasional spammer or crazy person, but you can delete them with a single click. Much easier than dealing with your obnoxious next door neighbor.

6. Buy photo software, install it, and learn to use it. Not a day goes by, that I don’t use photo software to resize my bookcovers for promotional items and postings. Did you think that Irish Wolf hound changes hats by herself? I like Microsoft Digital Image Suite 9. It does everything I want it to and is very user friendly. Yes, Adobe makes some great photo software that will do more, but I was looking for something with a short learning curve and something inexpensive. Microsoft Digital Image Suite 9 is just right for me.

7. There are some wonderful books on writing. Read some of them so you know what you don’t know. The more I read about writing the more I realize writing is like anything else, you get better with study and practice. It’s a craft. Just because you want to write, doesn’t mean you can. I’ve got a list of books that I found helpful – email me at evelyndavid@evelyndavid.com and I’ll send it to you.

Since I’m using Word to type this, I know that I’ve got 565 words at this point. More than enough for my Thursday blog. I’ll run spell check before I cut and paste this into “Blogger.”

Did I mention blogging? That should be item number 8. Maybe author newsletters should be number 9. But I’m not sure you really need to do both even though Evelyn David does. You have to save some time for the actual writing.

Okay. Time to wrap this up. I’m headed back to the animation drawing board. My goal is to get a dog’s tail to wag.

A writer’s life is so exciting.

Evelyn David

Lacking the Decorating Sense

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This past Saturday night, my good friends (and former Stiletto Gang guest posters) Tina Jordan and Ted Hindenlang hosted the most fabulous book signing party for me at their home in our little Village. It was a fabulous night. Tina and Ted live in one of our Village gems—a 1918 Colonial that Tina has lovingly decorated with thrift store finds, tag sale treasures, some new stuff, and other things that came with the house, including a gorgeous baby grand piano that she has tried in vain to sell on Craigslist. One problem? Well, apparently nobody wants it . (Or maybe they don’t want to move it.) Other problem? Oldest daughter, M., has suddenly found a love for it and playing it. Tina got a mini-recital Saturday night prior to our arrival. But I have to describe to you this lovely home and all of the treasures inside. Because Tina’s got that decorating style that I just can’t pull off and everyone who came in marveled at. There was tremendous oohing and aahing over the finds that she has picked up over the years, knowing exactly where each and everyone was going to go in the house and what purpose it would serve.

Tina’s got the “eye”, as I call it. I don’t have it. And few do, I’ve decided.

My good friend and Village librarian, Mary, remarked that she picked up a antique milk crate at a tag sale. She loved it. Brought it home. And then wondered, “What in Sam Hill am I going to do with this?” But fortunately for Mary, like me, she watches a lot of the Food Network. She watched as Tyler Florence (one of our favorite chefs—maybe because he makes so much meat with such loving care?) took his old, antique milk crate, wadded up his dish towels and stashed them in the crate on his counter, never having to search through the elusive junk drawer for a towel to sop up whatever mess he had made while lovingly making that beef tenderloin. Mary was inspired. Her milk crate now sits on her counter, stuffed with a mélange of brightly-colored towels, always at her disposal.

I love the idea of tag sales and thrift stores and going up and down the streets of Cold Spring, a little Village a bit to the north of here with store after store of treasures and antiques. But I see things and I don’t know what to do with them. A beautiful gilt mirror with just a tiny crack in the corner? I would love it. Somewhere. Anywhere. But I know I’ll get it home, hang it somewhere and look at it and think, “why did I buy that? It’s a cracked mirror.” Then I’ll see something like it in someone else’s home where it will look like it was made exactly for the wall where it has been hung. I won’t notice the crack, but I will notice the beautiful gilt and how it fits the wall perfectly.

My mother and father recently gave us one of what is apparently part of a famous series of “toilet paper oil paintings.” Hey—the guy was on Oprah. He’s famous. Ours is a predominantly blue winter scene that was painted in five minutes in a Catskill lodge in the 1970’s by a man who has made a fortune from these paintings. I tried hanging it in our dining room, where we had a big expanse of wall that needed a big piece of art. Unfortunately, Jim and I lack the appropriate “kitsch” gene to pull off the hanging of this art and it is now hanging in my attic office, seen only by me and appreciated only by me. This was part of the 70’s décor of my youth and fit in perfectly with everything else—shag carpeting, plastic slipcovering, and the like. But today, I can’t pull it off. Mom has made me promise that before the toilet paper oil painting goes the way of many other things in my home (the Goodwill store), I’ll give her one last crack at finding a home for it. Good luck, Mom. And good luck to toilet paper oil painting. I can’t say I’ll miss you. The only person I know who could make the painting work is Tina. I may have her do an intervention before the painting goes back to Mom. Maybe it just needs a new frame?

And another thing about Tina and the book signing party: she works full time, has two children, two dogs, and a very busy life. And her tree was up, decorated, with other holiday decorations scattered throughout her house so that the whole effect was like being in a holiday wonderland, populated by many of my dear friends, all clutching copies of “Quick Study,” waiting to have them signed.

Who’s luckier than I am? You don’t have to answer that. I don’t know a luckier person alive right now.

But here’s my question and I welcome my Stiletto gals’ input on this (because I know they have some), what is it about some people that they see treasure when the rest of us just see junk? And do you have the gene to pull this off, or are you like me, queen of the “matchy-matchy”?

Maggie Barbieri

No Sanctuary

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Last night we attended our church’s Christmas party. What a great time. It was held at a gal’s house who lives farther up in the mountains, off the main road, over the river and round several curving roads. Nearly every adult who attends our church was there. As all good Baptists do, everyone brought tons of good food.

After eating we played a crazy game that we play every Christmas. Everyone brings a wrapped tree ornament. Numbers are handed out. The first person picks a package to open and displays the ornament. The next person can steal that ornament or open another, and so it goes. Where the actions comes in is the stealing of the ornaments because there are always some that people like better than others.

We had a guest last night who doesn’t attend our church. Unfortunately for her, she kept unwrapping the most prized ornaments which were then promptly stolen. Her gem of a remark was, “Lutherans don’t act like this.” (She was kidding, of course.)

What does this have to do with the title of this blog? My next book coming out is from my other series, and it’s called No Sanctuary. It’s about two churches, two ministers and their wives and of course, murder. I thought having the book launch at my church would be perfect but wasn’t sure how the church council would feel about that because of the subject matter. My son-in-law, the pastor, had no problem, but I knew I needed to run it by those who decide such matters. Since I knew they’d all be at the party, this is where I approached them.

They all said it would be fine. Of course the event will be in the fellowship hall, not the sanctuary, and it won’t be on Sunday. I’ll serve food–anything Baptist needs to have food attached–and it certainly will be a pleasant affair.

Now, going back to holiday celebrations, the next celebrating my husband and I will be doing is dinner out with my critique group and whoever they want to bring, husbands or significant others. We also do this every year and I’m looking forward to merely socializing with my writer friends–who by the way are of several faiths.

Again, I wish all of you a wonderful holiday season, no matter how or what you are celebrating, just remember to connect with your friends and enjoy your family.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

Let’s Make a Deal

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I don’t want to be the grinch who stole Chanukah, but holiday shopping this year, even on a limited scale, is frustrating at best, deadly at worst.

We’ve all heard the tragic news story of the security guard at a Long Island Wal-Mart, who was trampled to death by an out-of-control, bargain-hunting Black Friday crowd. The mob mentality ruled that ugly morning, as shoppers stepped over, around, and even on the victim, in their zeal to score good, nay fantastic, deals. Gunfire broke out in the parking lot of a toy store in California, when two shoppers continued their in-store arguments over merchandise.

Are these incidents the result of shoppers who are frustrated before they ever walk into a store because the economy is in the tank and the holidays are going to be spare, if at all? Is it the American competitive spirit now taken to the cash register, with shoppers determined to find the biggest bargain and get the most bang (literally at times) for the buck? And what, if any role, do the stores play in this madness?

I suspect there is more than enough blame to go around. Undoubtedly, there is an urgent need to switch the focus from the materialistic to the spiritual side of this holiday season. As thoughtfully discussed by Marilyn, Susan, and Maggie last week, this holiday season we need to give more of ourselves, and less of our pocketbooks.

But since many of us are still buying a few gifts this year, even if the number and cost have been drastically reduced, here’s a plea to the storeowners.

I understand that the holiday season is, for many of you, a make-or-break time. In the best of economic times, many retailers net half their profits from October through December. But these aren’t the best of times – not even close. I want you to stay in business, you want me to buy your products. It can be a win-win – but here’s what you need to do.

1. Cancel Black Friday and any other events that encourage a survival of the fittest, mob rule mentality. When you offer four free video systems – or frankly anything else – and you have a crowd of 200 who’ve been waiting out in the cold for hours, it’s a recipe for disaster.
2. No more gimmicks. I want to look at a price on an item and not wonder if I have brought the right coupon – or somebody else in line is getting a better deal. One price should fit all.
3. Hire sales help who know your merchandise. They should be able to do more than ring up the sale. You want a staff that understands how to “make” a sale as well: Suggest a tie to go with the shirt; discuss which books might be appropriate for a beginner reader; tell me what are the hottest new games in the Wie universe. And it would be nice if they did it with a smile and good grace. As the Southern half of Evelyn David nicely summarized: a salesperson should be a problem solver instead of just another problem for the customer.

In exchange, I promise:
1. To honor that this is a business and you need to make a profit. I won’t try to take advantage of honest mistakes in pricing or abuse your return policy.
2. To treat your merchandise carefully as I search for the perfect gift so that if I don’t buy it, someone else can.

3. To behave with good grace and a smile; to wait my turn; to follow the golden rule and treat you and your sales staff the way I hope to be treated.

Let’s put some fun and dignity back into holiday shopping. What else do you think businesses should do to make holiday shopping a better experience?

Evelyn David