Tag Archive for: the Stiletto Gang

Are Blogs Passe?

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Are
Blogs Passe? by Debra H. Goldstein

When my first book, Maze in Blue, a mystery set on the
University of Michigan’s campus in the 1970’s was about to be published, I was
advised to quickly create a website, social media presence, and a blog. The
result was:
Website: www.DebraHGoldstein.com
Twitter: @DebraHGoldstein
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debra-h-goldstein-72473a11/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DebraHGoldsteinAuthor/
Personal blog, “It’s Not
Always a Mystery” – www.DebraHGoldstein.com/blog
I was set, or so I
thought. What I discovered during the time that elapsed between the original
publication of my 2012 IPPY award winning Maze
in Blue, its reissuance by Harlequin Worldwide Mystery as a May 2014
selection, and Five Star’s 2016 publication of Should Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Players
Mystery, was that technology changed what was needed to attract readers. Websites
had to be more interactive and mobile friendly, pictures and crafts demanded a
presence on Instagram and Pinterest, and besides having a personal blog, it was
beneficial for emotional support and reaching other readers to be part of a
group blog, like The Stiletto Gang.
Of course, even though it
meant redesigning my website, devoting more time to social media, and writing
three blog posts a month (I write the
Stiletto Gang blogs posted on the 2nd and 4th Fridays
of the month and alternate having a guest post or one by me every other Monday
for It’s Not Always a Mystery), I
complied. In my free time, I enjoyed life, produced twenty short stories that
have been published and a few still looking for a home, and wrote the first
book for a new series that will soon be shopped by my agent.
In five years, both the
world of publishing and suggested means of connecting with readers has

changed
significantly. One of the most discussed things is the role of the blog. Some
argue, there are simply too many, so none are being read. Others contend blogs
are the only thing giving readers a consistent way of interacting with an author
by providing an opportunity to read and comment on their thoughts and
activities.

Personally, making blog
deadlines is sometimes onerous, but I’m always glad when I complete one. I like
sharing a bit of myself with you. I also enjoy reading blogs written by others.
I always read everyone’s postings on The Stiletto Gang because we are all so
different. Although I may not always write a comment on the blog itself or when
it is reprinted on our Facebook page, I respect and value the different views
we express.
But, what do you think
about blogging? Do you think they have served their purpose? Do you look
forward to them? Do you prefer ones written by individuals like It’s Not Always a Mystery or group blogs
that appear more often, but are written by more authors like The Stiletto Gang?  

Gratitude Inspired by a Psychopath

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By AB Plum

Some time ago, The Stiletto Gang Bloggers gave two thumbs up to the idea of choosing a subject to blog about every month. We also agreed that if the idea didn’t grab us, we could write about something that did.

In the past, I’ve written on and off-topic. This month’s theme, “gratitude” really grabs me. So thanks, Bethany, for the reminder . . . and challenge.

Challenge, because I’ve scheduled Book 2, The Lost Days in my psychological thriller MisFit Series for release the day after Thanksgiving. I am, from time to time questioning my sanity on this decision as well as the decision to write the whole dark, disturbing series.

Focus on gratitude gives me pause to rethink. 

Eleven-year-old Michael Romanov, the character at the center of the series, is a psychopath. We all have childhoods, right?

Michael feels no sense of attunement with anyone . . . except, perhaps, a thread-thin regard for his only friend, Dimitri. Dimitri is the one person with whom Michael has ever experienced any familiarity. Their real affinity is their differentness not just from their peers but from the human tribe.

Michael claims his mother rejected him at birth. How is that possible? What could he have done to deserve her refusal to express affection toward him? Praise him? Touch him? 

Ultimately, gratitude boils down to social connection. Michael feels only resentment toward his bullying brother. His father’s too frequent business trips allow no time for bonding—if his father even cared.

Uber-smart and handsome. Michael has no visible physical deformities. He lives a life of privilege. Yet he finds nothing for which to feel grateful since no one acts on his behalf. No one offers him protection from his brother’s intimidation or his mother’s neglect. He is a misfit. An outcast by those who should include him in their circle.

Although this character is a creation of my imagination, I’ve met people with varying degrees of his alienation and lack of gratitude. Like you, I’ve read about young men (almost always men) with dark hearts who kill innocents—often children. Regret doesn’t come up on their radar.

When I meet these people or read about them, I am grateful for a mother who taught me to read early. Who did her best to encourage my curiosity. To protect me if I followed that curiosity to extremes. To love me with all my imperfections.

Michael’s mother is the antithesis of mine, but in the case of psychopaths, I don’t think ‘blame-the-mother’ peels back all the layers of the onion. In Michael’s case, I know as the author that brain damage plays a significant part in his inability to retrieve emotional memories—the basis for learning from mistakes. Additionally, he teeters on the edge of puberty—a period when the brain becomes a huge chemical cauldron.

Nature and nurture (none in his case) intermingle to wire his brain differently. No surprise he feels no empathic connection with others.

So, I am grateful after writing these six books to realize there exist humans whose full stories I will never know fully. Mostly, I am thankful for a healthy brain. I give thanks every day for friends and families and memories and stories that keep me from jumping that divide Michael crosses.

Here’s an excerpt from The Lost Years:
The sun’s eerie summer glow disoriented me as much as the headache hammering my skull. Or maybe my confusion came from the man seated next to me, his foot placed at the top of Dimitri’s spine. I gritted my teeth. Dimitri lay crumpled face down in the space behind the driver’s seat. His legs were folded under him like a penitent waiting for absolution.
The man in the front seat turned and flashed a mouthful of piano-white teeth. His piercing blue eyes glittered. I stared. Without the baseball cap, his copper-colored hair glowed in the golden evening light.
He laughed as if I’d said something funny. “For a boy who killed his mother three months ago, you have a face that borders on transparent.”
“You-you’re not American.”
“And you’re not Finnish—despite your mother.”
Involuntarily, I snorted.
Nostrils flaring, he cuffed my right temple with his knuckles. “I already know what you think of your mother.”
My ears rang. Involuntarily, my fingers flexed and twitched as if I’d been electrocuted. I wanted to hit him. Smash his face. Kick his Finnish teeth down his throat.
“We are going to see,” he said, “just how tough you are.”
****
Scary comic books, nineteenth century American literature (especially Poe, Hawthorne, and James), plus every genre in-between have influenced AB’s writing. Teaching adolescent boys and working with high-testosterone Silicon Valley tekkies opened up new insights into neuroanatomy and behavioral psychology. She lives in the shadow of Google, writes and walks daily. She participates in a brain-building aerobic dance class three times a week.
This link takes you to The Early Years on Amazon.

Clicking Our Heels —Food We Most Hate!

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Clicking
Our Heels – Food We Most Hate

During
this holiday season, many worry about gaining weight because of the snacks,
sweets, and delicious holiday only food we will be eating. Rather than have
that be an issue for The Stiletto Gang, we thought we’d let you, our potential
hosts and hostesses, know the “Foods We Most Hate.”
Debra
H. Goldstein – Lettuce. It’s slimy, green, grassy, and dull

Dru Ann
Love – Cooked fruit. Don’t like it not in its natural state. I make an
exception with raisins though – not a fan of dried fruit as well.  

Paffi
Flood – Can’t think of one. Growing up, it was any vegetable available for
lunch in the school cafeteria. Anyone else remember shredded carrots with
raisins or the salty, overboiled green beans?

Bethany Maines – Mushrooms. Taste like dirt. Feel like slime.

Jennae
M. Phillippe – I have been trying hard to learn to at least tolerate food I
normally hate ever

since I did a total reversal on Brussel sprouts and realized
I may be missing out on some good stuff I usually write off. But I can’t do
food texture, like mushrooms, certain seafood, and types of tofu.

Sparkle
Abbey – Sparkle is not into liver. Ever. Yuck!

Kay
Kendall – I loathe okra. My lip curls at the mere thought of it. Slimy,
dastardly stuff.

Juliana
Aragon Fatula – Anchovies. I love seafood, I love fish. You couldn’t pay me
enough

to make me eat anchovies. If I was starving I’d eat a bowl of lard with
a hair in it before I’d eat anchovies.

Clicking Our Heels – Our Favorite Vacation Spots

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Clicking Our Heels – Our Favorite Vacation Spots

It’s that time of year.  We’re all thinking about summer and that, invariably, leads us to considering where we would like to be if we could go to our vacation spot.  As usual, our answers are as varied as we are.

Dru Ann Love – My favorite vacation spot is any place where I am not obligated to do a thing.  I like the idea that I can go to a place and take one of the area’s highlight bus tours where the touristy attractions are pointed out to me while I sit, look and listen.

Bethany Maines – To be perfectly honest, every place I just visited is my favorite spot.  But the anything that has delicious food and cheap lodgings is the best.  M most recent favorite is Iceland.  Their butter is delicious.

Juliana Aragon Fatula – Stonehenge.  When I visited Stonehenge I had a river of electricity/magnetism run through my body and move my head physically toward the ground.  It was freaky/cool.  I wanted to stay all night and stargaze while lying on my back feeling the earth’s pull.  I had a similar experience at Chichen Itza, but it was a power pulling my whole body down to the ground.  I couldn’t climb the pyramid because my balance was wacked out.

Jennae M. Phillippe – The best vacation that I have actually been on:  Maui.  Best that I daydream about: an English cottage with lots of books and unlimited tea near a quaint village.

Linda Rodriguez – My favorite place I’ve ever visited was Oxford, English.  I felt as if I had come home.  I stayed there for two weeks and loved everything about it.  I think I need to write a series of books set in Oxford, so I can visit there for tax-deductible research every year or so.  Until then, there’s always Morse and Lewis on Netflix.

Debra H. Goldstein – Australia. When my daughter was studying abroad, I made a quick trip to visit her.  Between the beaches, lush greenery, rocky areas, I was impressed, but the most fun was seeing the countryside and the famous sites like the Sydney Opera House (we took the backstage tour at four a.m. – the two of us and a journalist from London) through my daughter’s eyes.  As she led me around the country, I realized we had reversed roles – she had become an adult.

Paffi Flood – My favorite vacation spot is Siena, Italy.  The entire city is the color found in the crayon boxes, and near one edge, a black-and-white marble cathedral rises from all the brown, and it’s absolutely stunning.

Sparkle Abbey – We’d have to say Laguna Beach, California.  Not only is it the setting for our mystery series, but I’s also just a great place.  It almost has a European flavor with all the wonderful shops, restaurants and galleries.  And then there’s a beach itself….

Marilyn Meredith – My favorite vacation spot is anywhere on California’s Central Coast.  I once lived close to the beach and I miss it.  Morrow Bay is a place we try to get to once a year.  My Rocky Bluff P.D. series is set in a small beach town, and I like to get energized by visiting similar places.

Kay Kendall – I cannot choose just one favorite vacation spot.  Here is my list.  Small to mid-sized European city in these countries:  the UK, France, Germany, Italy.  Plus these historic larger cities that really grab me:  Prague; Venice; St. Petersburg, Russia.

This is the Last Time I’ll be Posting on the Third Tuesday

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Am I sad? Not in the least. It will be so refreshing, not just for me, but for everyone to read thoughts from someone new. And I’ll still be here for the first Tuesday. After all, it’s good for this old gal to hang out with all these younger girls.

So what do I have to say on this last third Tuesday posting? I’ve been busy as always. I received the text blog for my next Rocky Bluff P.D. mystery and spent two days searching for errors. Did I find any? Of course.

I’m also snatching bits of time to work on the next Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery. What’s taken up most of my time is working on the blog tour I’ve organized for the RBPD. Besides asking people to host me on their blogs, I’ve written something different for each one. Fun, but a challenge.

As the new year has begun, I’m receiving invitations to give presentations. This past Saturday, I joined a writer’s group to talk about promotion. It was interesting, because the majority who came knew nothing about what they should be doing to let people know about their books. I had handouts and I certainly hoped it helped.

In March, I’ve been invited to speak to the Central Coast chapter of Sisters in Crime. I love going over there because that’s one of my favorite place in California. They’ve asked me to speak about blog tours, a perfect subject for me. I actually belong to that chapter even though it’s a three hour drive to get over there-but I’ve made so many friends there it’s definitely worth the trip.

As the year progresses, I’ll be filling my calendar with other speaking engagements, book and craft festivals.

For my fellow Stiletto Gang members, how is 2016 shaping up for you?

For the readers of this blog, what are the kind of author events you enjoy ?

Marilyn, who will see you on the first Tuesday of February.

P. S. I’d love to show you the cover of my next book, but I don’t have it yet.

Untitled Post

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Happy Holidays
from the Stiletto Gang

What’s your guilty pleasure?

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How did February get away from me? I absolutely blanked out that I was supposed to blog last Thursday and it wasn’t until I was sitting in my hair dresser’s chair late this morning that I realized that today was Thursday and that meant I had to blog. Argh! Blanking out 2 Thursdays in a row is completely unacceptable 🙁

So, back to the blog at hand. I was sitting there in my hair dresser’s chair, trying to wrack my brain on what to blog about, while my fabulous hair stylist, Krystal, talked about what we catch up on every time I come in to get my hair done–and that’s our favorite T.V. Shows. Not the really good, high quality T.V. shows, like Downton Abbey, which I love. No, Krystal and I talk Bachelor Talk. Yes, my guilty pleasure number one is The Bachelor, with Survivor and Revenge coming in a close second and third.

Have you been watching The Bachelor this season? Or rather, have you like me, been snoozing through The Bachelor? As much as I liked Bachelor Ben during Ashley’s season, he’s become a real dud this time around. Ben is so boring, that the only excitement comes from the numerous cat fights between the evil Courtney (one of the last girls standing) and the rest of the girls in the house. It will be interesting to see how this one ends.

How about you? What’s your guilty T.V. pleasure?

Acceptance Awards do’s and don’ts

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Although I’m knee deep in copy edits that are due back to my publisher by Friday (yes, tomorrow, that Friday) I still took a break last Sunday night to watch the Golden Globe Awards show.

I’m such a sucker for these awards shows. I love watching the stars in their glittery gowns, seeing the men in their tuxs, listening to the acceptance speeches, etc.

As per my own tradition, I kept a running list of my personal likes and dislikes:

Do’s:

DO invite British comedienne Ricky Gervais to host the show again. Despite his acerbic and rather insulting wit, I find him funny. Apparently, so does someone else because he’s done it 2 years in a row now.

DO have a great acceptance speech set up. Even if it’s an obviously pre-rehearsed skit. You people are entertainers, so entertain. Best acceptance speech of the night? The Modern Family gang, accepting their award for Best TV comedy. Love that Sophia Vergara, who looked absolutely stunning.

DO invite back sexy film stars who are classy and look drop dead gorgeous in a tux. Namely, Mr. Darcy, er… I mean Colin Firth (sorry, he will ALWAYS be my favorite Mr. Darcy!)

Now for the DONT’S:

Is it just me or was I the only person in America who couldn’t take their eyes off these star’s arms? I mean, yes, Angelina Jolie and Madonna are beautiful women, but enough working out is enough. They need some meat on those arms! Or at the very least, cover them up. Apparently, no, I’m not the only one who thinks this either. So does Piers Morgan.

And lastly, my personal awards show biggest no-no. Stars who go over their limited time in their thank you speech.

This year’s biggest offender? Meryl Streep.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I LOVE Meryl Streep and think she deserves every award she gets. I can forgive her for looking as if she’s just crawled out of bed and thrown on her bathrobe here, but I can’t forgive her for sounding like a flustered ninny on the stage.

Meryl, you have to know that whenever you are nominated, there is a GOOD chance you will win. Prepare a speech, for God’s sake, and rehearse it.

So who’s looking forward to the Oscars?

Maria Geraci

I Will Survive Alien

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What? you’re muttering to yourself, that title makes no sense.  Ah, but it must to someone (or rather, a couple of someones) as it’s one of the search phrases used to find The Stiletto Gang.  My best guess is that there’s a post somewhere in the archives mentioning that classic disco tune, “I Will Survive.”  Not so sure about the “alien” part.  Unless the searcher wants to know how he or she will survive an alien visit, or perhaps they’re feeling feisty, like they want to tell the galaxy, “I will survive, alien!”  Okay, I give up.  Your guess is as good as mine.
Another search phrase that had me reminiscing was “hissing garter snake.”  It brought back memories of several springs ago when I was cleaning leaves out of a window well by the patio.  A tiny garter snake reared its pinky-sized head to hiss at me.  Yes, I screamed, but then I took the dustpan, scooped it in, and flung it into the ivy.  Ah, good times.

How about this one:  “obese belly dancer.”  Hmm.  I don’t remember anyone writing a post on the subject.  Maybe I was on vacation (wait, I don’t take vacations). 

A handful of curious people found Stiletto by looking for “caramelized hair color,” which intrigues me.  I’ve always thought I’d love to have caramel-colored highlights in my tresses.  From the looks of things, I’m not the only one.
Then there’s the seeker of “outdoor ground cover w/ 7 leaves and flowers.”  Ah, how fortuitous that such a search led them here!  Because we’re all about, um, ground cover.  And what ground cover is better than that with seven leaves and flowers?  Although if you need to know the right type of mulch to use, I’m guessing a blog about plants might have more answers.

And last but surely not least, there were over 30 interested parties seeking information about being “naked at the mall.”  I do, in fact, recall writing a post called “Walking Naked at the Mall,” after Maggie and I had a discussion about dreams that mean you’re feeling vulnerable.  There were no photos of naked mall walkers inserted nor any physical descriptions, which I’ll bet left most of those interested parties feeling a wee bit let down.  What this tells me is that using “naked” in your title will draw readers who normally wouldn’t visit a book blog.  (I know, you’re thinking, brilliant theory, Einstein.)
Now I’m wondering, what’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever searched for online?  Or if you have a blog, what are the strangest search terms that have led someone to it?  Inquiring minds want to know!
  
P.S.  Little Black Dress is out next Tuesday, August 23…squeeeee!  You can pre-order online from booksellers and e-booksellers now!  Here’s a helpful link.  Or you can Google “book with magic black dress” and see if that’ll lead you to it.  Seek and ye shall find…something.

We Wish You Good Times, Good Friends, & Good Books!

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Happy Holidays
from
the Stiletto Gang!