Tag Archive for: cozy mysteries

Writing Life and Inspiration: Strangers + “What if?” = Plots and Characters in Fiction

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By Lois Winston

Whenever I hear a writer complain that she can’t come up with an idea for a plot or character, I offer this advice: “Get off your phone and keep your eyes and ears open.” No matter where I go—from the supermarket to a doctor’s appointment to the line at the DMV—I see people with their noses buried in their phones. I’m the outlier. As an author, part of my writing life is spent eavesdropping on conversations and observing the behaviors of those around me. That’s where I get much of my writing inspiration. For me, strangers + “what if?” = plots and characters in many of my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries.

Ideas for plots and characters are all around us if we just take the time to look and listen. Neighbors, friends, relatives, strangers, and the daily news provide constant sources of ideas for plots and characters. All you need to do is channel your inner snoop gene while pretending not to pay attention.

I’ve been privy to the most sensitive of conversations while sitting on a commuter train, in a department store dressing room, and even while doing the necessary in a mall ladies’ room stall. Sometimes, I’ve even heard both ends of the conversation, thanks to the person on the train or in the dressing room or lavatory having placed the call on speaker. Those lavatory experiences became the source of a scene in Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series.

The world is full of interesting and odd individuals, and I came across some of the oddest back in 1998 when my husband and I moved to a new house. These people and their strange habits have stuck with me over the years. With the encouragement of some of my readers to whom I told about these former neighbors, I incorporated them into my latest Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery. To my knowledge, none of the real people were ever murdered or committed murder, but the traits I observed did make their way into Seams Like the Perfect Crime, the fourteenth book in my series, currently up for preorder with a release date of February 2, 2025.

Seams Like the Perfect Crime

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 14

When staffing shortages continue to hamper the Union County homicide squad, Detective Sam Spader once again turns to his secret weapon, reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack. How can she and husband Zack Barnes refuse when the victim is their new neighbor?

Revolutionary War reenactor Barry Sumner had the odd habit of spending hours mowing a small patch of packed dirt and weeds until his mower ran out of gas. He’d then guzzle beer on his front porch until he passed out. That’s where Anastasia’s son Nick discovers his body three days after the victim and his family moved into the newly built mini-McMansion across the street.

After a melee breaks out at the viewing, Spader zeroes in on the widow as his prime suspect. However, Anastasia has her doubts. There are other possible suspects, including a woman who’d had an affair with the victim, his ex-wife, the man overseeing the widow’s trust fund, a drug dealer, and the reenactors who were blackmailing the widow and victim.

When another reenactor is murdered, Spader suspects they’re dealing with a serial killer, but Anastasia wonders if the killer is attempting to misdirect the investigation. As she narrows down the suspects, will she jeopardize her own life to learn the truth?

Craft projects included.

Preorder now. Available 2/4/25

P.S.: On Monday evening, January 27th at 7pm ET (6pm CT, 5pm MT, and 4pm PT), I’ll be the guest of the Cozy Mystery Party Facebook Group, hosted by Heather Harrisson and Shawn Stevens. If you’d like to join in for a fun hour + of all things murder, mayhem, and cozy mysteries (there will be prizes and surprises!), join the group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/cozymysteryparty. 

Hope to see you there! 

~*~

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, and children’s chapter books. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter and follow her on various social media sites.

Life’s Little Instructions

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As we complete another rotation around our sun, some of us like to make resolutions for things we’d like to accomplish in the coming year. There are lots of lists out there to guide us: new diets to try and exercise regimens to tackle. New books to read and buckets of travel options to consider. Or, perhaps we just want to work at developing a new and improved version of ourselves.

The list of 95-year-old William Snell that has been circulating across social media lately seems about right, although I wonder if he meant to number them in order of their importance. At times, his suggestions feel like sly digs at people who make such lists in the first place.

After all, while singing in the shower can truly be a mood enhancing exercise, should it really be first on the list—and followed closely by the caution to never turn down a homemade brownie?

I also ponder his #18 admonishment. Of course, at the Gang, we work to keep our stilettos (and our prose) well-polished. But maintaining shiny shoes in winter can be a challenge for those in northern climes. And in summertime, do we really need to shine our flip-flops?

Yet I heartily agree with #29. Dogs absolutely make make us better humans. And though I can’t remember the last time I waved at kids on a school bus (#33), I always wave at them when the zoo train comes around. Hopefully that counts.

I’m not exactly sure what Mr. Snell intended with #38. Life as an exclamation? Unfortunately, we can’t ask him about it. A Google search turned up no information beyond what’s on this weathered document, or exactly when the list was first written. But I hope he had a good life.

Still, if you’re looking for a few suggestions on how to live a pleasant life in 2025 and beyond, most of these tips might provide a good starting place. Especially #37.

Cheers!

Which “little instruction” would you take to heart for 2025?
Feel free to list your own tips in the Comments section below!
Gay Yellen is the author of the award-winning Samantha Newman Mysteries *
The Body Business***The Body Next Door***The Body in the News!***

Book Marketing is a 4-Letter Word

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Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

By Lois Winston

Book marketing? Unless you’re someone who majored in marketing in college (and maybe not even those people,) most authors will tell you the part of being an author they hate most is marketing their books to readers. Unless you’re James Patterson, Nora Roberts, or one of the few other “anointed ones,” no matter if you’re traditionally published or indie published, the bulk of book marketing rests on our shoulders. Most publishers, including what is known as The Big Five, do very little, if anything, to promote their authors’ books these days. For most, if they’re lucky, they receive a box of free promotional bookmarks or postcards.

And it doesn’t matter the genre you write in, the awards you’ve received, or whether you hit a bestseller list. I have friends who consistently make the New York Times list with each new release and are still required to do the bulk of the promotion for their books, including arranging their own events and handling social media marketing.

The competition is stiff out there, and it’s getting worse. Every author I’ve spoken with, whether traditionally published or indie published, is complaining about falling sales. This year has seen a flood of A.I. generated books going up for sale on etailer sites. There were so many flooding Amazon that they instituted a new policy, limiting uploads of new books to three a day. It maybe stemmed the influx from a major tsunami to a tidal wave.

Moreover, various marketing that once worked well for authors no longer shows the same results. What’s an author to do?

At the Killer Nashville conference in August, I attended a workshop on creating landing pages at Bookfunnel. Most marketing gurus will tell you every author should have a newsletter, that it’s one of the best tools in your author toolbox. I have a newsletter. Prior to Bookfunnel, I had about 1800 subscribers, some of whom are loyal fans. But the workshop instructor had tens of thousands of subscribers. Talking to other authors at Killer Nashville, I learned the best way I could increase sales of my books was to increase my newsletter subscribers.

The thing about a landing page, though, is that you offer a freebie in exchange for the reader subscribing. I’ve always been opposed to giving away huge numbers of books. I’ve heard from too many readers who only download free books and brag that they haven’t bought a book in years. I have newsletter readers who have told me they love my books but only read them if they can get them from the library or by winning a copy when I do the occasional contest giveaway. They won’t even spend .99 cents for a sale book.

I’ve never had a problem with putting a book on sale for .99 cents for a limited time. I think of it as a loss leader to spur sales of the other books in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series. That series currently has 13 novels and 3 novellas. Historically, I’ve seen good results from sales of other books in the series when one is on sale for .99 cents. But even those results have not been what they used to be lately.

So I decided to create a landing page on Bookfunnel and offer one of the novellas in the series for free with sign-up to my newsletter. I’m also taking part in two group promotions with other cozy authors on Bookfunnel throughout November, the Thank Goodness for Cozies promotion and the Cozy Mystery Month promotion. Signing up for any of the authors’ newsletters will get you a free book by that author.

My landing page has been up on my website and on Bookfunnel since mid-October. When the group promotions end at the end of November, I’ll be able to judge the results of the book giveaway. I’ll see how many downloads and new subscribers I’ve had and if all those free books translated into sales of other books in the series. I’m crossing fingers and toes that I’ll be pleased with the numbers.

Love it? Hate it? How do you really feel about marketing? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free audiobook download of any one of the first 11 Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries. (US and UK residents only)

~*~

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter and follow her on various social media sites.

Burning Your Zozobra

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While one half of our nation rejoices this week and the other half wonders what went wrong, here comes Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukah, when we’re all thrown together at friends’ parties and family reunions. Finding common ground where we can stand together may be difficult as we tiptoe around each other’s feelings after the election.

Four years ago, it also felt like our national unity had frayed, both physically (the pandemic) and culturally (we vs. them). Back then, I wrote a guest post for Jungle Red Writers about a new word I’d learned from an article in The Conversation. This week, our local newspaper reprinted the original essay.

The word is zozobra.

In Spanish, it means “anguish, anxiety, or gloom,” which many of us suffered from in those fear-ridden times.

https://burnzozobra.comI’ve recently heard that in Santa Fe, New Mexico there’s an annual Summer Festival in which they burn an ugly zozobra in effigy as an attempt to chase the gloom away.

And yet, barring a truly effective alternative to lighten our national funk, what better time is there than Thanksgiving to remind us of what’s truly meaningful in life? For me, that includes friends and family (regardless of political differences), the health that still sustains us, and a sense of purpose that keeps us engaged in the world.

Yes, bad things happen every day, and sometimes they happen to us.

But what if we try to minimize the complaining and instead, focus on the positive things we can do to make life better for ourselves and others.

It helps to practice gratitude for the small things that bring us joy.

I am grateful for family and friends, and for being accepted into a writing community where colleagues honor and respect one another, where we share our ups and downs in the wacky world of publishing. To my Stiletto sisters, and to Sisters in Crime and beyond, I would be bereft without your continued friendship and support.

And to our readers! Thank you for reading!

We’re all in this together, come what may. Tomorrow is World Kindness Day. Maybe we could start with that.

Or, if you’re not quite ready to let go of your anxiety, you could plan your very own Zozobra Festival and exorcise the beast.

What are you grateful for today?

Please tell us in the comment section below.

 

Gay Yellen is the author of the  award-winning Samantha Newman Mysteries, including The Body Business, The Body Next Door, and The Body in the News! 

Now available from your favorite bookseller. Readers and book clubs, please contact me at GayYellen.com.

 

 

 

 

 

Process Delayed Can Still be Progress…of a Sort

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By Lois Winston

I’m not someone who immediately jumps into the next book as soon as I finish writing the previous one. My latest Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, A Crafty Collage of Crime, released on June 6th. Other than promotional blog posts, I haven’t written anything Anastasia-related since then. Haven’t even given much thought to the next book beyond the fact that I know I’ll be picking up Anastasia’s story shortly after the recent book ended.

It’s not that I’m tired of writing about my reluctant sleuth or have no ideas. It’s more about a process I’ve found that works best for me. After a book goes off into the world, I devote the next month or so to promotion. Once the flurry of promotion wanes, I give myself permission to clear my head before once again hitting the keyboard in earnest. We all have our process, and I’ve discovered over the years that this keeps me from burning out or developing terminal writer’s block. We all need the occasional vacay, even if it’s only a vacay from the keyboard.

With that in mind, I had set a schedule to start in on serious pondering, mulling, and research the week of August 21st, the day after the Killer Nashville writers’ conference ended. I’d plant butt in chair and fingers on keyboard in earnest September 5th, the day after Labor Day.

Of course, I didn’t factor into testing positive for Covid shortly after Killer Nashville ended. And I certainly didn’t factor in the far from mild case of Covid that broadsided me and still continues haunting me with lingering symptoms. I haven’t felt this tired since suffering through mono when I was nineteen or dealing with an infant who exited the womb never needing to sleep—ever!

About the only things I’ve been able to accomplish when not napping are watching TV and reading, more of the latter than the former, thanks to the writers’ strike and the absence of many of my favorite shows. For someone who has never been a napper, I’m beginning to suspect I harbor some cat DNA. Don’t they sleep about seventeen hours a day?

At least during my daily seven hours of wakefulness, I was able to make a decent dent in my overflowing Kindle virtual TBR pile. For someone used to juggling multiple balls, if nothing else, I’ve achieved a small sense of accomplishment during my illness and recovery.

Not every book I read is worth mentioning. Several fell way short of expectations. However, there were two books that I thoroughly enjoyed: The Book Woman’s Daughter, the follow-up to Kim Michele Rchardson’s The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek, and Kopp Sisters on the March, book 5 in Amy Stewart’s Kopp Sisters series. However, if you’ve enjoyed the other Kopp Sisters books, be forewarned that this book is a bit of a departure from the previous books in the series. Although labeled as a mystery, the mystery element is a minor subplot.

One of the perks of being a published author is getting to read some books before they hit bookstore shelves. I had the absolute pleasure of losing myself in advance reading copies of two books that I highly recommend. If you enjoy women’s fiction, you won’t want to miss the recently released Picture Perfect Autumn by Shelley Noble. It truly is a picture-perfect novel.

If romantic amateur sleuth mysteries are more your speed, you’ll want to read The Body in the News, the third installment in the Samantha Newman Mysteries by The Stiletto Gang’s own Gay Yellen. I was hooked on this series after reading the first book. When I finished this newest addition, I wanted to pick up the fourth book right away. I hope Gay is a fast writer!

What about you? Read any good books lately? Post a comment for a chance to win a promo code for a free download of the audiobook version of Scrapbook of Mystery, the sixth Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery.

~*~

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter and follow her on various social media sites.

Cozy Mysteries and Friendship

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By Sparkle Abby

How is it possible that summer is over, kids are back in school, and the snowbirds are already flocking to Florida?

As the summer whizzed by, we’ve continued to faithfully work on our new series set in the fictional 55+ community, Shade Palms. We’re absolutely falling in love with our new cast of characters as they’re living their best lives, sleuthing out killers and cheaters, and figuring out what reinvention means to them.

One theme we’ve found to be true in our series as well as real life is the importance of friendship. Lately, it seems there have been many conversations about the challenges presented by retirement isolation and loneliness, particularly if friends and family are scattered or preoccupied with their own lives.

The value of friendship is so important! Friends offer emotional support, help in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, and even improve cognitive functions. Mark Twain famously said, “Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.”

Whether you’re retired like our characters, or just find yourself lonely or feeling isolated, we encourage you to take action! Here are five things you can do to begin creating meaningful friendships.

  1. Join a club or group: There are many clubs and groups that cater to people with different interests. Joining one of these groups can be a great way to meet new people who share your interests and form deep friendships. You could consider joining a book club, hiking club, art class, or volunteer group, among others.
  2. Attend events: Look out for events in your community that interest you, such as music concerts, art exhibits, or workshops. Attend these events and strike up conversations with people you meet. You could also attend events that cater specifically to women over 55, such as workshops on retirement planning or health and wellness seminars.
  3. Use social media: Social media can be a great way to connect with people and make new friends. Join groups on Facebook or LinkedIn that are geared towards women over 55. You could also use Meetup.com to find groups in your area that share your interests.
  4. Take up a new hobby: Learning a new skill or taking up a new hobby can be a great way to meet new people and make friends. Consider taking a cooking class, learning a new language, or taking up a new sport.
  5. Attend a retreat or conference: Attending a retreat or conference focused on women over 55 can be a great way to connect with like-minded individuals and make new friends. Maybe think about one in a different location. Perhaps someplace you’ve always wanted to visit.

Remember, forming deep friendships takes time and effort, so be patient and persistent. Don’t be afraid to initiate a conversation and to be the friend you’re looking for.

In case you haven’t heard, we’ve also started a YouTube channel to talk all things retirement!

If you’re interested in checking out our YouTube channel, you can find us at www.youtube.com/@yoursilvercircle  Our most popular video, You’re Kids Don’t Want That, already has almost SIX THOUSAND views! Who knew a convo about decluttering would be so popular?!

sparkle and abbey

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

How Intelligent is Artificial Intelligence?

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By Lois Winston

AI is here to stay, and there is much to worry about. For instance, we’ve all heard about the scams where bad actors contact people and demand ransom for a kidnapped relative. Too many people act out of fear before thinking and wind up losing huge sums of money. Thanks to AI, scammers can now clone the actual voice of the “kidnap victim.”

Writers are worried they’ll become obsolete, that in the future AI will take over publishing. After all, if publishers can use AI to churn out novels, why pay authors? I wondered if authors’ fears are truly founded. So I decided to conduct an experiment. I went on ChatGPT and told it, “Write a manuscript in the style of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries by Lois Winston.”

Artificial Intelligence is supposed to be able to analyze text and produce a new work in the style of the author. There are currently eleven Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries and three novellas. First chapters and back cover copy are widely available online, both on e-retailer sites and my own website. It didn’t take AI long to churn out several chapters. Here’s the beginning of a book created by ChatGPT:

Murder and Mayhem in the Crafting World

Chapter One

Anastasia Pollack had been up since dawn, frantically stitching together a wedding dress for her best friend’s daughter. As a professional crafter and owner of the American Woman magazine’s crafting column, Anastasia was used to tight deadlines, but this one felt especially pressing. After all, she couldn’t let her best friend down, and she wanted everything to be perfect for the big day.

In the first sentence, there are glaring errors. I write in first person, not third person. How intelligent is ChatGPT if it couldn’t even discern this? Anastasia is the crafts editor at a women’s magazine. She’s not a “professional crafter,” and she doesn’t “own” a crafting column in a magazine.

It got worse:

Just as she finished the final stitches, her phone rang. It was her mother, who never called before noon.

“Anastasia, darling,” her mother’s voice came through the phone, “I need your help.”

Anastasia sighed, knowing that her mother’s definition of “help” was very different from her own. “What do you need, Mother?”

“It’s your uncle. He’s in trouble again.”

Anastasia’s heart sank. Uncle Ralph was always getting himself into some sort of scrape or another. “What kind of trouble?”

UNCLE Ralph? Ralph is a Shakespeare-quoting African Grey parrot! He makes his appearance on Page 4 of Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the series. ChatGPT scanned enough to know Ralph was a character but wasn’t smart enough to know the difference between a human and a bird.

I won’t bore you further, except to say that ChatGPT also came nowhere close to capturing my voice. I write humorous amateur sleuth mysteries. Anastasia is a Jersey girl with a Jersey girl’s outlook on life. Publisher’s Weekly compared her to Tina Fey’s Liz Lemon from Thirty Rock, and Kirkus Reviews called her, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” ChatGPT obviously isn’t intelligent enough to understand and duplicate humor beyond the standard Knock-Knock joke.

Not to mention the fact that “mediocre” would be a generous description of the writing ChatGPT produced. I worked for a literary agency for a dozen years. If someone had submitted Murder and Mayhem in the Crafting World, it would have received a swift rejection letter.

However, perhaps I was partly at fault. I had asked the AI to write a manuscript “in the style” of my series. What would happen if I tried again, this time saying, “Create a book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series by Lois Winston”?

The results were no better:

A Deadly Yarn in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series

Chapter 1

Anastasia Pollack had been expecting a normal day at the office. She was going through the piles of paperwork that had accumulated on her desk when she received a call from her son, Alex.

“Mom, I need you to come to the yarn store. I think something’s wrong.”

Anastasia’s heart skipped a beat. She knew Alex wouldn’t call her unless it was something serious.

“I’m on my way,” she replied, grabbing her coat and keys.

When she arrived at the yarn store, she saw Alex standing outside with a group of people. He ran up to her as soon as he saw her.

“Mom, thank God you’re here,” he said, his eyes wide with worry. “It’s Catherine. She’s dead.”

Anastasia’s heart sank. Catherine was one of her closest friends and employees at the store. She couldn’t believe that she was gone.

As she flipped through the pages, she realized that Catherine had been keeping a diary. The entries were cryptic, but Anastasia could tell that something was bothering her friend.

Once again, ChatGPT had created a third person narrative. Once again, Anastasia is NOT a shop owner. And once again, ChatGPT wasn’t intelligent enough to tell the difference between a human and an animal.

In my series, “Catherine” is not Anastasia’s best friend. Her best friend is Cloris McWerther, the food editor at the magazine where they both work. “Catherine” is Catherine the Great, her mother’s cat.

Catherine the Great doesn’t show up until Chapter Five in Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun, but the AI had scanned enough of the text to find her name. If it were really intelligent, it would have picked up on the fact that she’s a four-legged creature, especially since she’s introduced as “Catherine the Great, my mother’s extremely corpulent white Persian cat.”

All ChatGPT would have had to do is scan any of my books’ Amazon pages where it would have found a large illustration of all three pets in the Pollack household. I’m wondering, if I tried a third experiment, would ChatGPT morph Anastasia’s mother-in-law’s French bulldog into yet another human? I decided not to waste my time.

Post a comment for a chance to win one of several promo codes I’m giving away for a free download of the audiobook version of Decoupage Can Be Deadly, the fourth book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series.

~*~

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Learn more about Lois and her books at her website www.loiswinston.com where you can also sign up for her newsletter and follow her on various social media sites.

On Birthdays and Bucket Lists

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By Lois Winston

Have you ever noticed the older we get, the swifter the years go by? I can remember walking home from school and bemoaning the fact that summer vacation was still six weeks away. Six weeks seemed like an eternity to eight-year-old me. Now six weeks often flies by at warp speed.

I bring this up because my birthday month is approaching, and I’m wondering how I ever got this old. Wasn’t it just yesterday that I gave birth to my first son? I remember the day as if it were yesterday. Yet now he’s the father of three, the oldest of whom is in his first year of college.

Who knows where the time goes?

Judy Collins once asked that question in a song. I’m asking it a lot lately. Back in the sixties the Boomer Generation suggested no one should trust anyone over thirty. Now we’re confronted by the derisive insult of “OK, Boomer” by the generations that have followed behind us. To paraphrase a quote from another songwriter of my generation, the times they are a-changin’.

Once upon a time birthdays were something we looked forward to—parties, gifts, cake and ice cream! Yea! So many of those birthdays connoted milestones we looked forward to—Sweet Sixteens, getting a driver’s license, voting, ordering that first legal glass of wine. Wishes were often fulfilled on birthdays, the one other day of the year besides Christmas or Hanukkah when you might receive that new bicycle or pair of skates.

Now at this point in our lives, if we want something, we buy it for ourselves. Most of us have too much stuff already. When we moved nearly two years ago, we got rid of those things we hadn’t used in decades. Why on earth did I keep a soup tureen I received for Christmas more than thirty years ago but never used? Does anyone ever use soup tureens? And I haven’t a clue as to the last time I used the fondue pot we received as a wedding gift. 1980-something? Those items and much more wound up at the donation center. Hopefully, someone will put that soup tureen and fondue pot to good use.

Bucket Lists are now more important than soup tureens and fondue pots. Whittling down the Bucket List had taken priority prior to the pandemic. Now we’re once again thinking about venturing out into the world. I still haven’t gotten to Scandinavia or Great Britain, and I really would love to see the Terra Cotta Warriors in China.

What about you? What’s on your Bucket List?

In celebration of my birthday, I’m giving away several promo codes for a free download of the audiobook version of Death by Killer Mop Doll, the second book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series. Post a comment for a chance to win.

 

USA Today and Amazon bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and nonfiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is a former literary agent and an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry.

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A Good Use for a Dead Darling – Catriona McPherson

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Sparkle Abbey’s guest – Catriona McPherson

 

I was at a two-and-a-half hour Zoom meeting earlier today (the UK Society of Authors’ AGM) and in the montage of the year’s highlights there was a wee tiny clip of another Scottish writer, Damien Barr, talking about how he no longer minds cutting stuff out of his drafts, now he’s published, because he can always return to the cut subject in blogs.

How, how, did that never occur to me in the course of writing thirty novels and mourning the stuff that ended up in the bin?

So, Stiletto Gang, here goes: you are the captive audience for my first resurrected-darlings blog post. Hope that’s okay.

SCOT IN A TRAP (Last Ditch Motel Book 5) is set in the present day but it concerns a time almost twenty years ago when Lexy Campbell was a school and then a university student, falling in (and out) of love for the first time. I wrote her first date, her first [billowing curtains] and the party at which her romance hit the skids. Inevitably, in the over-written first draft, I catalogued everything she wore. (I say “inevitably” because, if anyone can write about twenty years ago and not get there by visualising the fashion,  I never want to go shopping with them.)

In the first draft, however, I made a rookie mistake. I cast my mind back. When I was at school, we were in the height of  New-Romanticism. We crimped our hair, sewed brocade on shoulders and tied scarves round our legs. (Why did we tie scarves round our legs? We had necks.) By  the time I got to university, I was dressing like Bruce Springsteen: sawn-off checked shirt, tight jeans, work boots. I stole my dad’s old cardigans. He didn’t mind: he had moved on to fleeces because it was modern times.

The trouble with mining these memories for Lexy’s look is that she’s twenty years younger than me. Oops.

So, in the second draft, she had ironed hair and wore low-rise boot-cut jeans, hanky tops, and rocked many a barely-there sandal – remember those bloody things? Like a slice of toast with a single piece of string glued to it?

She also wore the ubiquitous gap-year chic of a dress and trousers. I still remember the first time I ever saw someone in a dress and trousers. It was one of my students at the University of Leeds – literally just back from her gap year. Note, I don’t mean a salwar kameez; lots of Pakistani diaspora women wore them throughout my childhood in Edinburgh and, in Leeds, men wore them too. But a western dress over wide-leg jeans? Mind blowing. That was the first time I ever felt old. I genuinely thought she’d been in a rush that morning and got mixed up about what she meant to wear. Like the time I put my skirt on the ironing board, left the iron to heat up, grabbed some toast, brushed my teeth, put my coat on and went to work.

Once I’d got used to the idea, I embraced the dress and trousers trend enthusiastically. And Lexy looked fantastic in the second draft, wearing hers. She was slightly under-dressed in the third draft and, by the time I’d got to page-proof stage, I wasn’t relying on clothes to ground the story in its time at all, which freed up her fashion choices to play a role in the plot. (No spoilers.) It was fun while it lasted, though.

Have you got happy memories of the fashions of yore? Anything you swore you’d never wear and ended up loving? Anything you still swear you won’t be caught dead in if it comes back? I’m not sure I could go round by flares for a third time, but you never know . . .

 

SCOT IN A TRAP

A mysterious object the size of a suitcase, all wrapped in bacon and smelling of syrup, can mean only one thing: Thanksgiving at the Last Ditch Motel. This year the motel residents are in extra-celebratory mood as the holiday brings a new arrival to the group – a bouncing baby girl.

But as one life enters the Ditch, another leaves it. Menzies Lassiter has only just checked in. When resident counsellor Lexy Campbell tries to deliver his breakfast the next day, she finds him checked out. Permanently.  Shocking enough if he were stranger, but Lexy recognises that face. Menzies was her first love until he broke her heart many years ago.

What’s he doing at the Last Ditch? What’s he doing dead? And how can Lexy escape the fact that she alone had the means, the opportunity – and certainly the motive – to kill him?

 

Catriona McPherson (she/her) was born in Scotland and immigrated to the US in 2010. She writes: preposterous 1930s detective stories, set in the old country and featuring an aristocratic sleuth; modern comedies set in the Last Ditch Motel in fictional (yeah, sure) California; and, darker than both of those (which is not difficult), a strand of contemporary psychological thrillers.

Her books have won or been shortlisted for the Edgar, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Lefty, the Macavity, the Mary Higgins Clark award and the UK Ellery Queen Dagger. She has just introduced a fresh character in IN PLACE OF FEAR, which finally marries her love of historicals with her own working-class roots, but right now, she’s writing the sixth book in what was supposed to be the Last Ditch trilogy.

Catriona is a proud lifetime member and former national president of Sisters in Crime.  www.catrionamcpherson.com

Lessons From Live Theatre

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I had the privilege of going to see a fun new play called “The Shark is Broken,” written by Ian Shaw and Joseph Nixon. The play details the behind-the-scenes drama surrounding the filming of the 1975 blockbuster movie, Jaws. The play was short (90-minutes) and anything but sweet, but overall a funny, very enjoyable show for any die-hard fan. There were only three actors on stage and a pretty basic set, serving as a great reminder of how to nail a story, be it a play, a movie, or a book.

  1. Character is key! Plot is important in any story, but to grab the reader, the author must have a great set of characters. From the second the first actor entered the stage during the play, I had no doubt he was playing Richard Dreyfuss, based on mannerisms alone. Each character should possess distinct traits that make it easy not only easy to identify, but to create and add conflict to a play or a book. A rollercoaster of emotion keeps a story fun, and nothing is better than the tension felt between opposing characters.
  2. Action Needs Reaction! “The Shark is Broken” took place entirely on a small set, without any big action scenes. But it kept my attention because of the dynamics created by the characters. The myth
    surrounding the filming of Jaws is all about the tension between the actors on set. The verbal tug-of-war between Richard Dreyfuss (played by Liam Murray Scott) and Robert Shaw (played by real-life son, Ian Shaw), had the viewer fully engaged from start to finish. There was no shark needed to heighten the tension on set between these two!
  3. Real Life Inspiration! It’s been so long since I’ve been to a city (Toronto, in my case) to see a play, I’d almost forgotten how much fun it can be to leave home. From the train ride to the pre-dinner grub, nothing beats character building than going out and watching people in action. For me it was the restaurant staff, the sports fans roaming about (The Toronto Maple Leafs had just won a hockey game in over-time), and even the people passing me on the sidewalk. Everyone is unique, just like each character in a story. Subtle details like the scent of someone’s perfume, the slow-gait of a two lovers holding hands, even the feel of the wind tunnel created from nearby skyscrapers. All these details matter. Don’t even get me started on snippets of conversations overheard at nearby tables or close-by theatre goers… There’s always something to see, hear, smell, or feel.

Where do you find inspiration? Any other Jaws fans out there?