Tag Archive for: #amreading

Researching in Miami

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 By Kathryn Lane

I place my novels in countries where I traveled during my corporate job. Miami is a city where I attended many
regional conferences. I also passed through the international airport innumerable
times coming from or going to Latin America and the Caribbean. Yet I only saw the city from airline windows as we approached the airport, through taxi windows as we drove to hotel conferences, or from hotel rooms for the couple of days I would attend meetings.  

Now I’m setting a novel in Miami. It’s
the perfect excuse to do on-site research and get to know the city. I’d planned this trip last year and then
Covid hit, so I put my novel on hold. Now I’m here in a wonderfully hospitable city. I love that Spanish is spoken everywhere. A diverse city, Miami is a melting pot of people from Latin
America and the Caribbean. And yet there are immigrants representing every
country in the world. Tourists from around the globe flock here, too.

My novel starts in Miami and takes my
protagonist, Nikki Garcia, to Cuba. Of course, I do online research before I
travel. Online experiences do not provide the “feel” of a place, the culture,
the food, or the special little bits of information I like to add to my novels.

My husband is a wonderful travel
companion on research trips. He’s a great sport when I ask him to
explore areas he might not be interested in seeing. Over the time I’ve been an
author, we’ve encountered surprises, whether it’s walking the old neighborhoods
of Barcelona to locate a mosque as in a previous trip, or to explore a section of
the Everglades, like on this trip. Or finding a Cuban restaurant in Little
Havana in Miami, walking in, and discovering it served Spanish food, not Cuban.
What the heck, we were there so we ate seafood paella.

When I’m performing on-site research, I
like to put myself into Nikki’s shoes. How would she react to living in a condo
in Miami Beach? Eating at Little Havana? Interviewing security guards in Doral?
Would she shop for fresh lychee fruit and orchids in the Redlands agricultural
area on the west side of the city? Should she discover a corpse in the Everglades
or in a canal on Cutler Bay? Would she visit the Deering Estate and Key
Biscayne?

Bob and I follow the outline of the places I
want to investigate. Doing this work makes me feel like a location scout for a
big production company. Of course, this is only one part of my research. And
it’s definitely the most fun!

After indulging in food, music, and
culture, then reality sets in and I have to actually write the story!

***

What kind of research do you do? Do
you enjoy researching various topics for your novels? Ever done on-site research?

Visit me at https://www.Kathryn-Lane.com I love
hearing from readers. Ask a question, suggest an idea, or comment about the blog.

Kathryn Lane started
out as a starving artist. To earn a living, she became a certified public
accountant and embarked on a career in international finance with a major
multinational corporation. After two decades, she left the corporate world to
plunge into writing mystery and suspense thrillers. In her stories, Kathryn
draws deeply from her Mexican background as well
as her travels in over ninety countries.

https://www.kathryn-lane.com

https://www.facebook.com/kathrynlanewriter/

The
Nikki Garcia Mystery Series: eBook Trilogy https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GZNF17G

Photo
credits:

All photographs are used in an editorial or educational manner.

The Grounds at Deering Estate, Lily Pads in the Everglades, and Server Showing Paella are photos by Kathryn Lane

 

I Dream in Science Fiction!

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By Kathryn Lane

Fiction
writers take ideas from everywhere, the reason a saying says, “Be careful what
you say around me – I’m a fiction writer.” To prove the point, I’ll paraphrase one of T.S. Eliot’s
quotes: “Good writers borrow; great writers steal.”

Dreams
offer me a favorite reservoir of ideas to borrow. I dream in full technicolor,
and in Spanish and English. Several short stories have come directly from stuff
obtained during my REM sleep.

However,
I was shocked when I had a science fiction dream, complete with language from
an Orwellian future. I read sci-fi, but I’ve never attempted to write it. I do
not have the grasp of physics, astrophysics, astronomy, chemistry, and artificial
intelligence to write convincing sci-fi, so I limit myself to simply reading
it.

Years
ago, I’d read a lot of Ray Bradbury, who said, “Anything you dream is fiction,
and anything you accomplish is science; therefore, the whole history of
humankind is nothing but science fiction.”

Now back to my sci-fi
dream. I was at a
party, complete with fireworks, set in futuristic surroundings. An older couple
left the party and drove away in a self-driving car. In the amorphous
environment of dreaming, I was concerned about them so I called to make sure
they were okay.

I heard an automated voice inform me
through my implanted earphone that “Public driver 00Z1921 was detained by a
squadron of public protectors for bypassing the self-driving controls of
00Z1921’s auto.”

“What’s
the accusation,” I asked.

“Reckless
speeding and endangering the disciples,” the automated voice responded. The voice further instructed me to
locate 00Z1921 at the hostile crisis center.

Still dreaming, I arrived at the center and found the small
self-driving car surrounded by ten hostile-looking storm trooper types.

Then I woke up! Unfortunately,
the dream ended before I learned the outcome of poor old 00Z1921.

Guess I’ve been reading too many futuristic articles
on the speeding up of technological advances resulting from our lockdown, and
those ideas zoomed me into a future time zone!

Or
maybe, as Ray Bradbury might have said, we are all living in a science
fictional world.

***

Do you dream in technicolor?
Do you have dreams set in a sci-fi future?

Kathryn Lane started out as a starving
artist. To earn a living, she became a certified public accountant and embarked
on a career in international finance with a major multinational corporation.
After two decades, she left the corporate world to plunge into writing mystery
and suspense thrillers. In her stories, Kathryn draws deeply from her Mexican background as well as her travels
in over ninety countries.

https://www.kathryn-lane.com

https://www.facebook.com/kathrynlanewriter/

The Nikki Garcia Mystery Series: eBook Trilogy https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GZNF17G

Photo Credits:

Fireworks: “Looks like the Sky will
bleed with Colors tonight. Wishing everyone a wonderful evening of fun &
excitement!” by williamcho –
licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Waymo
self-driving car front view by Grendelkhan – licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Storm
Trooper at Oxford by Sheng P. – licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Kathryn’s books – designs by Bobbye
Marrs

Stormy Candlelight Dinners

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By Kathryn Lane

My husband and I did not celebrate
Valentine’s this year. Yet we made up for it the following night with a romantic,
candlelight dinner. Not exactly to make up for Valentine’s but as a consequence
of the deadly snowstorm that hit Texas. When our power failed, we started
lighting candles. 

Donning a headlamp, I cooked a “prepare in a
pinch” dinner of Spanish-style scrambled eggs with Spanish chorizo, cherry
tomatoes, black olives, and a hint of hot paprika on my faithful gas stovetop. 

The Valentine storm came a
little more than two months after half our house flooded during the first week
in December. A pipe broke in the master bathroom (CLEAN water, mind you!).
Nothing to do with our balmy early December weather – a pipe joint simply came
undone behind the toilet after we’d gone to bed. I awakened at 1:30 in the
morning, heard a hissing sound, got out of bed, and stepped into 4 inches of
water. Bob and I cleaned up what we could. Later that morning, he called the
insurance company. They sent out a cleaning crew that afternoon. For two months
we’ve had workers every single day except for holidays. And the storm gave them
a six-day break. The workers are becoming part of the family!

With the sadness so many
people have endured through the pandemic, I keep reminding my husband (and
myself) that our flood issues are merely an inconvenience, not a tragedy. Add
the snowstorm, blackouts, and lack of water to an already royal mess in our
house, we kept our sanity in the face of the storm’s fallout by calling friends
to make sure they remained safe. The power outages created a dangerous
situation for millions of people.

For lack of water, well, we bypassed bathing. I was thankful all
our bathrooms were functional again after the flood, at least until the winter
storm knocked out the water supply. But I won’t go there! 

In the past two months, our house has either had too much water
or none at all. But hey, we live in Texas and Texans are tough!

Below is my simple, easy recipe to
use in a pinch. What’s your “use in a pinch” recipe?

Spanish
Chorizo/Cherry Tomato Eggs

2
tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

6
slices cured Spanish chorizo ham, cut into pieces – (substitute Mexican
chorizo, omitting the paprika)

1 cup
cherry tomatoes, cut in half

1
tablespoon finely chopped green onions

¼ cup
chopped black olives

4 large
eggs beaten

Salt
and pepper to taste

¼
teaspoon hot paprika (optional)

1
tablespoon cilantro, chopped

¼ cup
shredded manchego or gouda cheese

Heat olive oil in a
skillet over medium heat. Add chorizo and onions. Cook until chorizo begins to
crisp, about 2 minutes. Add cherry tomatoes. Season with a pinch of salt. Cook
and stir until tomatoes soften and release their juices, about 4-5 minutes.
Beat eggs with salt, pepper, and paprika (if using) in a small bowl. Stir
seasoned eggs into tomato mixture in the skillet. Add olives. Reduce heat to
medium-low and cook and stir until the eggs are set, 3 to 5 minutes. Sprinkle
with cilantro and cheese. (2 servings)

Bon Appetit.

                                                                                ***

Kathryn’s books – The Nikki Garcia
Thriller series and her short story collection – Backyard Volcano.
All available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082H96R11

About Kathryn

Kathryn Lane started out as a starving
artist. To earn a living, she became a certified public accountant and embarked
on a career in international finance with a major multinational corporation.
After two decades, she left the corporate world to plunge into writing mystery
and suspense thrillers. In her stories, Kathryn draws deeply from her Mexican background as well as her travels
in over ninety countries. https://www.kathryn-lane.com

Photos: Wine and Rose, and Chorizo and Tomato Eggs – Public Domain

Kathryn cooking with a Headlamp – Bob Hurt

The Nikki Garcia Thriller series, book covers by Bobbye Marrs


Origin and Evolution of the Mystery Genre

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 By Kathryn Lane

When I’m about to start writing a
new Nikki Garcia mystery, I take time to look back, like traveling through a
time capsule, to the origin of the genre.

Most literary historians place the origin of
mysteries in 1841 when Edgar Allan Poe wrote The Murders in the Rue
Morgue. He invented devices of suspense fiction still in use, such as the
subconscious motivation of his characters.

Poe also used kernels of truth in his fiction. Murders
in the Rue Morgue is set in Paris. Since I like to place my novels in
foreign countries, I wondered why Poe used Paris as his setting. It turns out
that the first known private investigative firm was founded in that city by François
Vidocq, a former criminal who
became a criminologist and was also instrumental in organizing the Sûreté that became part of the
national police force with Vidocq as its first director.

Apparently, Poe created the first fictional
private investigator, Dupin, based on what Poe knew about Vidocq.
I doubt Poe ever anticipated
the reading public’s enduring fascination with suspense and mysteries, which have
also evolved into thrillers.

The next big innovator, Arthur Conan Doyle,
borrowed from other genres, including humor and romance, to spice up his Sherlock Holmes series,
a trend some current authors tend to follow.

Agatha Christie invented the husband-and-wife team
and moved her stories to the country, thus inventing the cozy mystery. She
dropped clues in her stories so the reader could figure out whodunit.

A lot of experimentation followed in the genre,
creating hard-boiled crime, spy thrillers, psychopathic and serial killers, and
the psychological thriller.

Readers who enjoy mysteries often prefer stories
full of twists and turns with memorable characters and plots that keep them
turning the pages.

After I go down memory lane in my time capsule, I enjoy
reflecting on specific ideas that might help me in my next project, such as creating
more tension between characters, perhaps experimenting with an unstable
character, or seeing how some of my favorite authors have used foreign locations
to make the story more satisfying.

As a reader, what do you anticipate in a new
mystery? 

Or, as a writer, do you look at the work of other authors, either
current or past, to inspire you?

***

Kathryn’s books – The Nikki Garcia
Thriller series and her short story collection – Backyard Volcano.
All available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082H96R11

Kathryn Lane started out
as a starving artist. To earn a living, she became a certified public
accountant and embarked on a career in international finance with a major
multinational corporation. After two decades, she left the corporate world and plunged into writing mystery and suspense thrillers. In her stories, Kathryn
draws deeply from her
Mexican background as well as her travels in over ninety countries.

https://www.kathryn-lane.com

https://www.facebook.com/kathrynlanewriter/

Photos:

Crow, Investigator with Pipe, and
Fingerprint – Public Domain

Kathryn’s books – designs by Bobbye
Marrs

Has the Pandemic Changed Your Reading Habits?

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 By Shari Randall

Mystery is my genre of choice, but lately I’ve noticed a change in my reading habits. Maybe it’s the pandemic, politics, or the general ragged state of the world, but I’ve found solace in another genre: Horror.

 

Yep, horror.  It says a lot about the state of the world that I’ve found escape in a vampire saga and a ghost story/serial killer novel: The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires and The Sun Down Motel. Why is this? Maybe it’s the satisfaction of closing the book, trapping the frights within the covers. There’s no such thing as vampires, right? Though to be honest, the dread and suspense created by The Sun Down Motel did cost me more than a few hours’ sleep. 

 

Both books are bestsellers but The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires included violence toward children, which is a nonstarter for me, and I wish the book had struck more of the sprightly tone of its title.

 

The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James, on the other hand, delivered more than promised by its prosaic title. Twenty-year-old Carly Kirk’s beautiful Aunt Viv went missing in 1982, and Carly retraces Viv’s steps thirty years later to appropriately named Fell, New York to discover what happened to her. Carly believes that by following in her aunt’s footsteps, working the night shift at the seedy Sun Down Motel, she’ll find the answer. She finds the answer and much more.

Has the pandemic changed your reading habits?

Travel for Writing

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By Kathryn Lane


For people with an appetite for
travel, 2021 promises to be a better year. We’re already picking destinations
and building itineraries to fulfill our yearnings.

Yeah, I’m one of those crazy, exuberant travelers anxiously
waiting to renew my journeys!

Before becoming a writer, I jetted around the
globe for work purposes. I’d managed to leverage a CPA and finance career into
inspecting overseas affiliates experiencing financial issues or mismanagement.
Traveling fulfilled my dream of visiting other countries and learning their
cultures.

Yet I left the corporate world to write!

Since switching to writing mystery novels and
short stories, my travel is even more purpose driven. My husband and I
journey to foreign locations so I can research places where my female
protagonist, Nikki Garcia, and other characters find themselves – usually in
heaps of trouble.

Hong Kong, intended to be the next story site, had
to be cancelled. The pandemic in March 2020 posed too big a risk in Asia. I
rethought the plot and scheduled a May trip to Miami and Cuba. COVID had hit the
US and Caribbean by then, so we cancelled that jaunt. Surely by October, we
could travel. Barcelona beckoned us and we booked a trip to Spain. That too had
to be cancelled.

Upon researching “pandemic safe” tours, swimming in the Aegean off the coast of Turkey offered a possibility. Except
I’m not a swimmer. And it’d be difficult for Nikki to chase bad guys using a breaststroke!

Another option – “pretend to be in Paris from
home.” Glancing at the itinerary, it suggested baking Circus Bakery’s
cinnamon buns for breakfast. Turning on French music for atmosphere, adding a
scarf and sunglasses while reading Le Monde’s website for French news, enjoying
a leisurely luncheon of wine and cheese, and then taking a virtual tour of the Musée
d’Orsay. By 5 p.m. it’s time to become your own bartender for aperitifs
before dinner. And finally you cook your dinner pretending to be a famous
French chef cooking Coq a Vin.

Cooking after all the wine from lunch and
aperitifs before dinner? They must be kidding. Or maybe that’s the secret of
famous French chefs – being plastered as they cook!

Seriously, I hope 2021 is a great year for all writers – and those of us who are also travel
junkies – that we can once again hit the road, rails, oceans, and airways. Or
even take hiking and cycling tours without concern of encountering closed
hotels and restaurants.

Wherever your passion leads you, I’m lifting my
glass of French wine to wish you a New Year of health, love, joy, peace, and
happiness.

***


Kathryn’s
books –
The Nikki Garcia Mystery Series and her short story collection – Backyard
Volcano. All available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082H96R11

Kathryn Lane started out as a starving artist. To earn a
living, she became a certified public accountant and embarked on a career in
international finance with a major multinational corporation. After two
decades, she left the corporate world to plunge into writing mystery and
suspense thrillers. In her stories, Kathryn draws deeply from her Mexican background as well as her travels
in over ninety countries.

https://www.kathryn-lane.com

https://www.facebook.com/kathrynlanewriter/

Photo Credits:

Boat in Hong Kong Harbor, Swimmer, and Wine and Cheese – Public Domain

Kathryn’s books – designs by Bobbye
Marrs

When Pigs Fly

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“When pigs
fly” is an adynaton, an absurd figure of speech to describe an action or
event that will never happen. But in literature, there are several examples of
pigs that take action or participate in events, and a few indeed fly.

In
real life in 2020, pigs are flying…on commercial airlines!

A
consequence of less people on flights is that airline companies are repurposing
their planes to take pigs around the globe. That’s right – the cargo bays of
jets are transporting more animals than ever before, especially hogs to China.
In addition to the flight crew, animal handlers are on board to monitor the
pigs’ temperaments and to fill the porcine sipper bottles. The only drawback,
according to handlers, is the distasteful aroma of even the cleanest and most
scrubbed-down porcine.

Returning
to the idea of pigs in literature, most western kids grow up reading or at
least hearing about The Three Little Pigs. In recent years, children may
have read The Three Little Javelinas, where the story is recast with
wild boars of the Southwestern US. They build their home using tumbleweed,
saguaro ribs, and adobe. A coyote huffs and puffs to blow the house down instead
of a wolf. And there’s The Three Ninja Pigs intended to take literary swine
to ninja fans. And in Today I Will Fly, Piggie is determined to fly.

But
the best example of pigs in literature is perhaps Animal Farm.

If George Orwell were writing Animal Farm
today, would he have Napoleon and Snowball argue about taking over the future
of aviation, placing pigs in the cockpit, having flight attendants take
alcoholic drinks to the passengers in first class? Would it be Mr. Jones who
would be in the cargo bay?

Would
Orwell have the common animals in coach peering into first class and the
cockpit, and realize they could no longer differentiate the swine from the
humans?

Leaving
Orwell aside, I can see Noah’s Ark becoming Noah’s Jet. Instead of embarking on
a boat, the giraffes, elephants, chipmunks, bears, antelopes, horses, birds,
and remaining critters could simply board a Boing 777 or an Airbus A330, and fly
off to higher ground until the flood waters recede.

Personally,
I will never get on another jet without wondering if unpleasant odors will rise
from the cargo
bay. For that, I already have my mask ready!

Do you have your mask?

                                                                    ***




The Nikki Garcia Mystery Series  –  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GZNF17G

Kathryn Lane started out as a starving artist. To earn a
living, she became a certified public accountant and embarked on a career in
international finance with a major multinational corporation. After two
decades, she left the corporate world to plunge into writing mystery and
suspense thrillers. In her stories, Kathryn draws deeply from her Mexican background as well as her travels
in over ninety countries.

https://www.kathryn-lane.com

Book Credits:

The Three Little Pigs by Joseph Jacobs, first published on
June 19, 1890

The Three Little Javelinas by Susan
Lowell/Illustrated by
Jim Harris

The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz/Illustrated by Dan Santat

Today I Will Fly by author/illustrator Mo Willems

Photo Credits:

Flying Pigs by BugMan50 – licensed
under CC BY-NC 2.0

Animal Farm book cover – Public
Domain

Flying Pig Mask – Public Domain

Kathryn’s books – designs by Bobbye
Marrs


Untitled Post

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Write What You Know

by Saralyn Richard

Back in the day, there were certain rules a writer had
to observe. Show, don’t tell. Always use complete sentences. Write what you
know.

The logic behind these rules was impeccable, and, all
innovation to the contrary, most writers still observe them today, at least
most of the time.

When my Detective Parrott Mystery series, including
MURDER IN THE ONE PERCENT, and A PALETTE FOR LOVE AND MURDER, was published,
readers assumed I was a part of the country’s top one percent. Otherwise, how
did I know so many of the details surrounding how the rich and powerful
dressed, ate, drank, and partied?

Truthfully, I did attend an elegant party in Brandywine
Valley, and that inspired the party in MURDER IN THE ONE PERCENT, but all of
the details about the one percent came from research. (Sorry to disappoint,
but, no, I do not have fifty pairs of Christian Louboutin heels in my closet.)


Image by <a href=”https://pixabay.com/users/clker-free-vector-images-3736/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=295093″>Clker-Free-Vector-Images</a> from <a href=”https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=image&amp;utm_content=295093″>Pixabay</a>


How did I portray all of the books’ characters and
home interiors so authentically? I observed, I asked questions, and I shopped
online at all of the most exclusive stores (without spending a dime).

I’ve been asked many times how I was able to depict
Detective Oliver Parrott so genuinely, since I am neither young, male, nor
African-American. That must have been a real departure from writing what you
know, right? Wrong.

As an urban high school educator, I’ve known hundreds,
maybe thousands, of young African-American males, many of them as intelligent,
ambitious, hard-working, and down-to-earth as Detective Parrott. I’ve known
their struggles, their families, and their dreams. I’ve celebrated their joys
and grieved their sorrows. I’ve listened to them speak and watched them perform.



Detective Parrott is an amalgamation of many fine
young men who have taken their places in society and who strive to make a
difference with their lives. He is definitely an example of writing what I
know.

Similarly, I drew from my experiences as a teacher,
administrator, and school improvement consultant in urban high schools to write
the upcoming release, A MURDER OF PRINCIPAL. Although the story is fictional,
it pulls back the curtain on the joys and challenges within a large school
community, and the issues of gangs, grievances, sexual harassment, and race are
ever-so relevant today.

Whether I’m writing about billionaire playboys or disadvantaged
football players, whether I researched or remembered, I’m writing what I know. And
I hope my characters will resonate with you, too.

What
books have you read that transported you out of your own experience?

 

Award-winning mystery and children’s book author, Saralyn Richard has
drawn from her experiences as an urban high school educator to write A Murder of Principal. Her previous
books, Naughty Nana, Murder in the One Percent, and A Palette for Love and Murder, have
delighted children and adults, alike. An active member of International
Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America, Saralyn teaches creative
writing at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, and continues to write
mysteries. Reviews, media, and tour schedule may be found at http://saralynrichard.com.



A maverick principal comes to Lincoln High School with a student-centered agenda. Trouble ensues, and killing the principal is just the beginning. A MURDER OF PRINCIPAL is available for pre-order at https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Principal-Saralyn-Richard-ebook/dp/B08KWLZ9JP/ref=

 

 

Tripping Over Research

/in /by

 By Kathryn Lane

Planning a research trip!

Research is a must for scientists and academic writers who
either “publish or perish”. And it’s also a necessary activity for people who
pen non-fiction, historical fiction, and science fiction.

But what about genre writers?

To me, authenticity is important in novels. Without it,
readers lose interest. Plot, characters, setting, and time period are important
elements that often should be augmented with research. For example, a character
with a particular illness must be presented authentically, so research of
symptoms and treatments could be important.

Sagrada Familia Basilica 

As a suspense and mystery author, I delve into police
procedures, murder weapons, guns and how to use them, and even the interior of
ambulances. Settings form an important element in my novels ─ I often place my stories in foreign countries. To make the
reader feel they are experiencing that locale, I do online research. Before
completing a manuscript, I take a trip, camera in tow, to check out my
locations. I want to verify I’ve described the environment as accurately as
possible, including geography, culture, architecture, historical facts, or even
practical items such as how the police are organized in another country.

Before completing my last novel, Revenge in Barcelona,
my husband and I traveled to Spain. We spent time imbibing the culture, sampling
the food, verifying historical tidbits, and touring architectural sites I’d built
into the story. Plus a friend in Barcelona set up a meeting with an
antiterrorism agent (who remained anonymous) to discuss the various police and
counterterrorism forces working in Catalonia, the part of Spain where the tale
happens.

Cave
Art from Aurignac

Early in the manuscript, I had protagonist Nikki Garcia and
her fiancé visit Franco-Cantabrian caves containing paleolithic art. I’d built scenes where the
antagonist followed them, just out of sight, through these isolated parks. I’d
personally visited the caves to get them right. While editing the manuscript, I
realized the cave section did not fit the story or add real intrigue. It was an
information dump. So I cut that adventure, retaining only a couple of passing mentions
to the antiquity of cave art since it’s in keeping with Nikki’s character and
her love of ancient archaeological history.

How did I realize I had an info dump? Following my rule that
research incorporated into fiction should be balanced, I’d highlighted my
research in yellow as I wrote to keep track of it. Upon editing the work, the
unnecessary research popped out ─ I was literally tripping over my
research.

***

Have you
ever researched so intensely that you’ve incorporated an information dump into
your writing?

                                                                                ***

Photo credits: Map – courtesy of
glenn-carstens-peters-ZWD3Dx6aUJg-unsplash.

Façade of
Sagrada Familia Basilica, Cave Art from Aurignac, and Nikki Garcia Trilogy by
Kathryn Lane. 

                                                                        

Kathryn’s
books –
The Nikki Garcia Mystery Series and her short story collection – Backyard
Volcano. All available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082H96R11

Kathryn Lane started out as a starving artist. To earn a
living, she became a certified public accountant and embarked on a career in
international finance with a major multinational corporation. After two
decades, she left the corporate world to plunge into writing mystery and
suspense thrillers. In her stories, Kathryn draws deeply from her Mexican background as well as her travels
in over ninety countries.

https://www.kathryn-lane.com

https://www.facebook.com/kathrynlanewriter/

Lesson from Bon Jovi: “Do What You Can”

/in /by

By Kathryn Lane

When I give presentations on
writing, I’m often asked if I’ve experienced writer’s block – a slowdown of
creativity or the inability to create a new work.

When my creativity slows, I
turn to researching topics I’m writing about and that attracts my creative angels
again. But I’ve heard stories of how dreadful writer’s block can be. Truman
Capote spent the last ten years of his life speaking about the masterpiece he
was writing, a work that never materialized and possibly caused the stress that
triggered his nervous breakdown. How sad is that? 

On the other hand, Gabriel Garcia
Marquez, often spoke of his inability to progress on “One Hundred Years of
Solitude.” He gave up and drove his family from Mexico City, where they were
living, to the seaside resort of Acapulco for vacation. They were just arriving
at the bay of Acapulco when he stopped the car and turned around, explaining to
his wife that he now clearly saw the premise for “One Hundred Years of
Solitude.” Skipping vacation, he drove back to Mexico City, sat at his
typewriter, and banged out his masterpiece, the novel which undoubtedly won the
Nobel Prize in literature for him.

So
what happens when a writer hits a wall?

 

Recent
news about a song in the upcoming album 

When Bon Jovi’s tour was
cancelled due to COVID-19, he didn’t just stay home and fret. No, he stepped in
as dishwasher at his JBJ Soul Kitchen in Red Bank, New Jersey – a restaurant he
established years ago which often provides food to those in need.

 

An Instagram posting showing
him washing dishes, stated “When you can’t do what you do, then do what you
can.” That inspired him to create the song “Do What You Can.”

 

The
lesson in Bon Jovi’s action is to turn disappointment around when facing
adversity. If it’s writer’s block or any type of setback, flip it over by doing
what you can, rather than forcing yourself to do what you normally do. Until
inspiration hits again!

  

If
I experience writer’s block and turn to dish washing, I think my creativity
would return very quickly!

 

Ever
had writer’s block? How did you overcome it?




Kathryn’s books –
The Nikki Garcia Thriller series and her short story collection – Backyard
Volcano. All available on Amazon.



Kathryn Lane started out as a starving artist. To earn a living, she became
a certified public accountant and embarked on a career in international finance
with a major multinational corporation. After two decades, she left the
corporate world to plunge into writing mystery and suspense thrillers. In her
stories, Kathryn draws deeply from

https://www.kathryn-lane.com

https://www.facebook.com/kathrynlanewriter/

“If I Had Something to Say” by re_birf is
licensed under CC BY 2.0

Other photos from public domain.