Tag Archive for: Marilyn Meredith

Trick or Treating Past and Now

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Halloween was always my favorite holiday. You’ll see why the past tense when you get to the end of the blog. As a kid, I was the last one to come in from trick-or-treating. Once I learned where the homemade cookies, popcorn balls and candy apples were being handed out, I was off like a streak. I didn’t have to be with anyone else–my goal was to gather up as much good stuff as possible. For those who don’t know, I was a kid during World War II and sugar was rationed. Treats were hard to come by–trick-or-treat was the opportunity to stock up.

The closest I ever ran into trouble was about five blocks from home and it was about 9 p.m. When I knocked on the door a man came out with a shotgun aimed right at me. He said, “Do you know what I do to trick-or-treaters?” My “No sir,” was squeaky and I was sure I’d soon be dead. He said, “I give them candy.” He dumped a whole bunch into my sack.

When my kids were young every costume they had was homemade. I can’t remember them all. When my first one was a baby, she was dressed in white and I said she was the little cloud who cried–she did because all the scary costumes scared her. That didn’t stop me from collecting the treats though.

One of my sons suffered being dressed like a girl when he was six. We created a bookworm costume once. The girls were good at putting on lots of bright skirts and raiding my jewelry box to become gypsies or princesses. Through the year I collected bits and pieces that could be turned into costumes. Half my hall closet was crammed with various costumes we concocted.

For those coming to our house trick-or-treating, we often thought up some scary way to hand out candy. One time they had to put their hand in a box to get the candy which was handed out by a very grizzly hand.

When the kids came home with their loot, we wouldn’t let them eat it until we checked everything for problems like hidden pins or razor blades–and we ate one or two of the best treats.

We had lots of Halloween parties too over the years for kids and grown ups. For the kids we usually had a darkened haunted house to go through, and grizzly things to touch, like cooked, cold spaghetti that we called guts. Hubby would rattle chains outside the window and wear a scary mask. The grownups tried to outdo one another with their costumes.

Now we live where all the houses are far apart and ours is down at the end of a very dark and long lane. No one comes to our house trick-or-treating. When we first moved here we had twin girls who lived next door and they were the only ones brave enough to come knocking on our door at night to say, “Trick or Treat.”

We have a granddaughter and her husband who decorate their front lawn every year with the spookiest stuff imaginable. Tombstones, coffins with lids that open, ghosts fluttering in the breeze. They live in a neighborhood full of kids–everyone looks forward to seeing what he’ll come up with every year.

Celebrating Halloween for us will be limited to watching scary movies on our TV. It’s okay, I have great memories of past Halloweens.

Celebrate Halloween with the Stiletto Gang this year by going on the scavenger hunt to follow the clues and maybe win some prizes.

Marilyn

No, I’m Not Wonder Woman and I Don’t Wear Stilettos

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Think of this as a confession.

I was recently interviewed on another blog and the interviewer made me sound like Wonder Woman. I can assure you I’m not.

What I am is a great-grandma, grandma, mom and wife who does know her limits. In order to do the writing and promoting that I want and need to do, I’ve given up some things that once were a real part of my life. I no longer shop all year long for Christmas presents. I’ve opted out to give money–and not a whole lot of that. Same goes for birthdays. After all, I have way too many to give to.

The decorating I do for Christmas is now minimal–it takes far too much time to put it all up and take it down. Hubby used to be really good about helping but now he rebels. Easier just not to do so much.

I still invite people over to dinner because I like to cook, but it’s usually spur of the moment now. I no longer set the table with my good China–we use paper plates and I serve buffet style.

Parties were something I loved to put on–we used to have one at least once a month. No more. Not just because a party is a lot of work, but I couldn’t stay up for the end. I get up early these days and I’m early to bed. Oh we do go to parties we’re invited to, but we’re nearly always the first to leave.

At mystery and writers’ cons, hubby and I disappear long before the bars have cleared and the clutches of writers have disbanded.

Promoting takes a lot of time. This month I’m on a blog tour for my latest book, Dispel the Mist, which means I have to let people know where I am every day. Thank goodness for Twitter, Facebook and the like.

I’m also doing physical things like this weekend was the Apple Festival. I always sell a lot of books, handout many cards, and talk to interesting people, but it is a lot of work and tiring. We put up the tent on Friday afternoon, had to be there on Saturday and Sunday a.m. and all set up by 8 a.m. and you must stay until the end or you’re not invited back. Exhausting.

Coming up is a weekend away. I’m giving an hour long talk on novel writing, but it’s a four hour drive to get there. We’ll be staying over–that’s also tiring though I enjoy it.

And now about the stilettos.

A woman wore a snazzy pair at the Apple Festival. They had zebra striped heels. How she managed to walk up and down that mile long street to look at all the displays I have no idea. Years ago I wore high heels all the time, but they were never stilettos. As an old lady, I’m far more comfortable in flats.

That’s my confession for the day.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

What is Proper Writing Attire?

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Of course there isn’t any such thing. I thought I’d throw the question out and learn what others wear while they are writing.

I have a good friend who gets up at 4 a.m. everyday and begins writing in her pajamas and doesn’t get dressed until she’s through with her literary process.

I must confess I always get dressed before I start my day doing anything. Could be partly because this was what my mom did until she reached her 90s, then she’d eat breakfast in her bathrobe and get dressed afterwards. Another reason is for twenty-three years hubby and I ran a licensed residential care facility in our home for six adult developmentally disabled women. We never knew when licensing or the regional center might make a surprise visit and I didn’t want to be caught looking less than professional.

I no longer worry about looking professional, but I always dress for whatever I’m going to be doing the rest of the day. Once I take my shower, I put on whatever I’m going to be wearing no matter what time that happens. I do not like to change clothes. Strange, but true. Hubby is just the opposite, he’s wear his grungies until just before it’s time to go somewhere.

Another reason I get dressed right away is because of family members who just drop in. No one bothers to knock around here and once we’re up the front door is unlocked.

So… I could be writing in casual clothes because I’m staying home all day or you might find me in business type clothes because I have to go to a meeting–like today.

Tell me about your writing attire.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

How Do You Get Everything Done?

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That’s a question I get asked all the time. The answer is, often I don’t.

I make a lot of lists and cross things off when I get them done. Yesterday I planned to work on a book that has just been edited and take care of some of the edits. Instead, I read and answered email, filled out an interview someone sent me, received a great review for Dispel the Mist, the third.

Once I got that of course I had to copy it, put it on the page where I’m keeping those reviews and I had to let my Twitter friends and my Facebook friends know. Holding my breath about the reveiw that might not be so good. My publisher and I both sent the book out to a lot of reviewers.

Hubby brought in the mail and I had to pay a couple of bills and I went on line to cancel a membership to something we never used–should have done that long ago.

Remembered that I should add to my newsletter about my talk at the library (not many showed up but someone I only met on Twitter and his wife traveled 1 1/2 hours just to meet me. Don’t tell me Twitter promo doesn’t work. Then, of course, my launch Sunday at Kirby Farms in Springville had to be mentioned–that one went super well, lots more people and books sold and the cookies were delicious.)

And that’s more or less the way it went all day. I did get a little done, I’m looking for the word was and trying to turn the sentence around in order to eliminate it–works sometimes, not always.

Hubby and I did take time out to watch General Hospital together–its our afternoon rest period.
Cooked and ate a big dinner, but left right after for Bible Study–we’re studying Daniel. Came home and my brain doesn’t really function well much after seven, so I didn’t feel the least bit guilty about watching Dancing with the Stars. (Good excuse, anyway.)

Maybe today will be more organized with less distractions–except I really must get the laundry done.

Marilyn

Growing Old Gracefully

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How does one grow old gracefully?

I know that I don’t really feel old inside–of course it’s always a shock when I look in the mirror and this older person looks back at me that resembles a cross between my grandmother and mother.

I can tell my husband is getting older because he just doesn’t get much done anymore and he used to be a dynamo. When he watches TV he spends more time asleep than not. He stays up much later than I do, but he’s sleeping in his chair while I’m in the bed.

If you’d seen him this past weekend though, he worked as hard if not harder than most of the younger men when we were visiting down in Dana Point at the ill-fated book launch with no books.

He knew how to and helped so many younger people put up and take down their tents who didn’t have a clue how to do it. He hauled tables and put tables away. He helped in anyway he could and worked right alongside our host who is thirteen years younger.

I’ve always had friends who were older than I am, now most of my friends are younger. My older friends have retired to places where older people go and they’ve taken up leisure activities.

I can’t imagine spending my days doing “leisure” activities.

If I’m not writing a book I’m planning a new one. Right now my efforts are all geared toward promoting Dispel the Mist.

Hubby and I have a lot of places to go planned for the next month, places where I’ll be promoting but we’ll also have fun and visit with some of our younger friends.

Our calendar for next year is filling up too–we’re headed for New Orleans for Epicon–New Orleans is some place we’ve never been before so we’re definitely going to do some sightseeing.

We don’t plan to stop until we have to–not sure that fits the bill of growing old gracefully, but it will have to do.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

Making Lemonade Out of Lemons

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Hubby and I were invited to spend the weekend with Lorna and Larry Collins to help them celebrate two events for the launch of their mystery, Murder…They Wrote. We met Lorna and Larry four years ago in San Antonio at an Epicon. (Conference for electronically published writers.)

We’ve since spent time together at subsequent Epicons and kept in touch through e-mail. They’ve invited us several time to come visit them at their home. It’s a long, long drive to where they live through L.A. traffic and we had never accepted their kind invitation before. This time they asked me to be part of a Fine Arts Festival being put on by the church; to have a table with my books and give a talk about How to Write A Mystery.

We also found out that we shared the same birthday which was yesterday. So of course we packed up what we needed for a weekend and headed down to San Juan Capistrano. Mrs. Magellan, as my husband calls our GPS, guided us right to the Collins’ front door.

Lorna met us with this greeting, “The books haven’t arrived.”

Oh, my, I’ve been in this predicament myself before and I knew exactly how she felt–and I told her so. After a consoling hug and learning about her frantic calls to her publisher and the post office, neither giving her any encouraging information, we brought our suitcases inside and sat down to talk about the situation.

She did have other books to sell at the festival and I suggested she make out some forms for people to use to buy the books and when the time came she could either mail or deliver them to the ones who lived close by. She quickly made an order form with a copy of the book cover in the corner.

Doing all that could be done for then, we all went to dinner, still hoping the books might show up the next day. They didn’t.

Because Lorna was in charge of the festival, my husband helped Larry do all the set up. We both sold some books and I met a lot of interesting people, and had fun giving my talk. After it was over and everything was back in order, we took the Collins’ to dinner this time as a celebration of our birthdays.

After church on Sunday, was the launch of the book. Of course the invitations had all been sent out so the party went on despite the lack of books to sell. The Collins back yard is gorgeous with a beautiful waterfall so tables with umbrellas and chairs were set up in the lovely beach weather. Lorna decorated each table with a Bird of Paradise and sea shells. (The book is set in Hawaii and has a Bird of Paradise on the Cover.)

Many guests arrived to be told there was no book as yet, but nearly everyone pre-paid for a book and filled out one of the order forms. (Taking care of all that was my job and I was glad to do it.)

Wonderful refreshments were served and the conversation was lively. I don’t think anyone felt deprived because the books weren’t there–except for Lorna and Larry, of course.

That evening, Lorna used the left-over meatballs and made pasta for our last meal together, and we talked about what a wonderful time we had together despite the lack of the new books.

We certainly got to know this lovely couple much better and enjoyed their hospitality, and I feel that we helped make the weekend go a bit smoother.

When “Murder…They Wrote” finally arrives, I’m sure they’ll have many more venues to introduce it to mystery lovers.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

What Happened to Our Time?

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Or I could have said, where did our day go?

The older I get the shorter time seems to be. Now by the time I get up, get dressed, eat breakfast, do a few things on my list, it’s time for lunch. Same thing with the afternoon, it disappears and it’s time to make dinner. Evenings are much shorter too.

When I was kid a day lasted forever. Summers seemed like they went on forever. We had time to play, visit friends, ride our bicycles, zoom down the hill on skates lickety split and crash into the neighbor’s garage door to keep from killing ourselves. When we were teenagers, our group took turns hosting evening get-togethers at our homes and served homemade cookies and lemonade or Kool-Aid. We walked home in the dark. Not the least bit scary. I wrote and put on plays with the neighborhood kids. We had a girls’ club that met in the play house my dad built for me when I was younger, but was big enough for us to get-together and have secrets from the little kids.

And of course, I had plenty of time to read those ten books I got from the library each week. I was writing too. One summer I put out a magazine and charged five cents a copy.

We did chores too, but I have to admit, it was mostly doing dishes every night. I washed and my sister dried and we cleaned our rooms on Saturday.

We always went to Sunday School and Church on Sunday. Most Sunday’s we came home and had a big dinner. Afterwards we often visited with one of our relatives, my grandparents, or my aunts and uncles and all their kids.

We had wonderful birthday parties–usually two, one with our friends and then another with our cousins. With the cousins it was usually a picnic at one of the big parks.

Before TV we listened to the radio. I always listened to all the scary shows as well as Lux Radio Theater that had dramas with all the movie stars on them. Mom and I would go to the radio station to watch and then afterwards I’d get the stars autographs.

After my father built the first TV in our neighborhood, we had a lot of company in the evening who came to watch the magical box with us. Evenings lasted a long time too, I always had a project that I wanted to do.

Even after I had a family, once the children were all tucked into bed, I had my own private evening. Now, I’m the first one into bed.

Don’t get me wrong, I still cram as much as possible into every hour I’m awake, but those hours just don’t seem to last as long.

Maybe I’m just being nostalgic, but I don’t think so. I listen to what one of my married granddaughter does during her days, she’s a speech therapist at a public school and has two kids, a pre-schooler and a second grader. This summer, besides their vacation where they rode the rapids, yes, with their kids, camped, bicycled, rode an old fashioned train, the boy went to karate lessons and both kids took swimming lessons, the girl plays the violin and does that Irish dancing, and in the meantime, my granddaughter was taking a class for her profession. Her husband is a deputy sheriff and of course he helped with all this, but he also took a cake baking class and turns out he loves doing it and is now the official birthday cake baker for the family.

That’s the way my life used to be, jam packed with activity, now I can’t imagine even trying to do all that.

Now that I’ve written all that, I guess I’m just thankful that I can look back at all those great memories and be grateful that I still am able to do as much as I can.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

What I Like and Don’t Like

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Because I’ll be off visiting my daughters in southern California when this blog comes out I decided to follow what my blog mates have been doing and write a list of things about me, namely what I do and don’t like.

I don’t like TV and radio commentators and reporters from either party who are mean. Being mean is NOT reporting the news nor is it going to change how anyone thinks.

I don’t like people who presume I believe the same way as they do just because I don’t blast my beliefs all over the place.

I don’t like movies that are full of naked people, sex that doesn’t do anything for the story, and coarse language that’s only there for the shock appeal. (I know what people look like without their clothes and most look best covered up, after being married for 57 years I know all about sex and don’t need lessons, and I’m offended by the use of bad language when it isn’t necessary.)

I dislike negative people and avoid them–if I can’t, I think of ways to put them in my next book.

What I do like is a good mystery–one that entertains me and keeps me guessing to the end.

I also like to eat a good meal whether I cooked it or someone else did.

I love being around my family and friends. Nothing more delightful than seeing how the kids are maturing and learning what everyone is doing.

I love being around my church family who I know I can count on for prayer when I need it.

I love good movies: funny movies, scary movies, romantic movies, exciting movies.

I like Facebook despite its addicting qualities.

I love writing mysteries, I love my characters who seem real to me, and I enjoy meeting people who have read my books.

I like more things than I dislike and I tend to avoid the things that I dislike. Life is too short to waste time on things you don’t like.

Now you know more about me than you probably ever wanted to know, but my blog is done and I can go off and have fun with my daughters.

Marilyn
http://fictionforyou.com

Hooray, I Get to Stay Home for Awhile!

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This month’s traveling is finally over and for the next two weeks I’m staying right here at home. Not sure that’s so wonderful though since the temperature hit 108 yesterday and supposed to be the same today.

Last week we were in Santa Maria where everyone was complaining they were having a heat wave when the temperature hit 80. We loved it.

We were there for the Santa Barbara County Fair where we had a table for my books in the Fine Arts Pavilion. (Really, it was the roller skating rink with portable flooring put down over the skating floor). If we’d been out with the displays, paintings and photographs it might have been a great venue–instead they had us behind a Plexiglass wall that was the route to the restrooms. There wasn’t even a sign that pointed out our hideout.

Only a few people ventured back there intent on looking at the photographic entries that hung on the wall behind us. When we were spotted, the people seemed surprised to see us there. Of course when anyone came in I was on my feet, pointing out the fact that I was an author and these were my books.

When no one was around, I took my cards and went into the main room and talked to people and giving out my cards and telling folks about the authors that were waiting to be discovered behind the wall.

I was the only mystery writer. There was a science fiction writer, an author of a how to raise children book, a poetry author, a children’s book author and a children’s book illustrator who worked on illustrations all through the fair.

I only signed up to be there three days from 11 to 4. I know my limits. For one thing, I was the only one up on my feet and talking to people. The others waited far more patiently than I am, for someone to pass by their displays.

I sold the most books–which wasn’t a lot. I sold eight the first day, two the second, and seven the last. Not so great–however I did talk to many people and handed out lots and lots of cards.
Would I go again? Yes, if they found a better place for us to have our tables.

Hubby and I had a good time together–and he read one of my books all the way through while he was there. We ate every meal–breakfast and early supper–at the same restaurant which was near our motel. The food was outstanding and the wait staff wonderful. And the weather was much better than here at home.

Now I can concentrate on my writing for awhile.

Marilyn

The Kindle

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Yes, I broke down and bought a Kindle. I love it.

Frankly, I didn’t buy it merely to read books. My main purpose was to have something to demonstrate while I gave talks on e-publishing. I’ve been doing that for a long time, and I had two such presentations lined up in a row. I was on a panel at the California Crime Writers Conference in Pasadena and doing a talk on e-publishing for the Public Safety Writers Association’s Conference last weekend.

I downloaded Gary Phillips latest book on the Kindle because he was the moderator for the first panel. He’d never seen a Kindle so obviously not his book on one either. He was tickled.

I also purchased a couple of my own books on Kindle to see what they looked like: No Sanctuary and an old romance, Lingering Spirit.

The Kindle is great, easy to figure out and nice to read on.

The one drawback is it is far too easy to buy books. I have about six on there now. I’m saving them for when I go on a trip and that’s all I have to take with me.

Because, I have a huge stack of regular books to read. I got three books from a publisher to read and review–and they are really big and rather literary, so they’ll take awhile. Then, while I was at the PSWA conference I bought way too many books. When the author is there and talks about his or her book, I can’t control myself. Oh, and that brings me around to one more drawback about the Kindle–you can’t get the author to sign them.

Most of the big publishers haven’t figured out yet that you shouldn’t charge so much for books. E-publishers who have been around for a long time, know that the cost should be low if they expect to sell a lot of books. All of my publishers are putting their books on Kindle as well as all the other e-book sites. Yes, there are lots of ways to read an e-book–iPhones, iPods, Sony E-Reader and others, Kindle is not the only one.

Over the years I’ve had several e-readers, but you had to connect to your computer to buy a book. The Kindle is magic–you can order the book through Amazon’s Internet site if you want, but you can just as easily go to the book store on the Kindle and order. In 20 seconds the books is there.

And that’s what I have to say about my new Kindle.

Marilyn a.k.a. F. M. Meredith