When did you realize you wanted to write novels?
I was always a bit creative, and people told me I had an imagination. But on my fifteenth birthday, the feeling hit me like an ocean wave. It’s the moment I realized this was what I wanted to do. Within a couple months, I began writing short stories in a more serious pursuit. More or less haven’t looked back since.
How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?
About four years from that moment. My first book, Dothan, released by the now defunct Epstein Publishing on December 10, 2004.
Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?
Indie to some extent. My first few books were published through Epstein Publishing and Aspen Mountain Press. But most of my books now are \self-published.
Where do you write?
For many years, I wrote on my PC in the family room at my home. Now I write on a laptop at the state and national parks we travel to.
Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?
Fairly quiet, but I have no problem writing with the TV on or listening to my brother’s chatter (he’s autistic) as long as things aren’t too loud. I like classic rock and R&B/Soul/Motown, but I usually don’t associate them with writing.
How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?
Early on, there were characters based on people I knew or stories featuring places I lived. That tapered off for several years. In the last few years, I’ve delved into more material about disability. Writing manuscripts focusing on my ordeals with Cerebral Palsy and my brother’s autism. I’ve even worked the latter into a supernatural horror story.
I’ve since combined aspects of these with a short story I wrote for a contes and revised as a series of detective stories. I’ve also revised a heist caper tied to disability and wrote an aftermath story. I haven’t published any of these yet. I’m still working on them. And they’re also very personal.
Describe your process for naming your character?
For years, the character’s name was the last thing to come to mind when creating a story.
With these recent stories, I’m fascinated with certain last names for characters like ’’Collins’’, ’’Harrell’’, and ’’McClaren’’. I gave a pair of sisters female variants of boy names. I’ve named some of characters after family members and people I knew. But it comes down to the name being right for the character.
Real settings or fictional towns?
I have used fictional towns before to avoid any negative reactions, but mostly they’re real.
What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?
In some of my detective stories there’s a character based on my brother. Due to his autism, his family doesn’t understand him. He’s not the most verbal but is kind and slowly learns new things. On some level, his family also learns from him and learns to love him.
What’s your quirkiest quirk?
There are times where I’m not the most attentive and am easily distracted.
Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?
I wish I’d learned some things about writing a decade or more sooner.
What’s your biggest pet peeve?
People and life in general…lol.
You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?
My brother, Fleetwood Mac’s Mystery To Me, and Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury.
What was the worst job you’ve ever held?
I don’t know about the worst job, but I remember my worst period as a writer, so far. Around 2012-2013, I signed with a Film/TV Agent to get screenwriting work. Was assigned to write five screenplays, which I did. Nothing happened and she was gone within a year. At the same time, I popped out a series of short Kindle books in quick succession.
The combination of the two really burned me out and took me a few years to begin coming out of that slump.
What’s the best book you’ve ever read?
Part of me wants to say Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. After years of reading entertaining stories, this book taught me to pay more attention to wording and sentence structure. Try not to use the same word twice in a paragraph. Along with how developed the characters and settings were. It inspired me to write poems.
Ocean or mountains?
For now, I’ve been going to a few lakes and ponds at the state parks we’ve been to. I plan to see some mountains when we get to Yellowstone. Sooner or later, maybe both?
City girl/guy or country girl/guy?
A question beaten to death by relatives from my native Dothan, Alabama. City people are stereotyped as being ambitious, extroverted, and more than a tad selfish. While country types are pegged as content and introverted but very dim witted. My reality is the rural contentment with some ambition.
What’s on the horizon for you?
There’s still some things I want to work on with heist capers and crime stories involving disability. Also, continuing with photography and visiting the state and national parks.
Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?
I hope to be creative for as long as possible. I’ve been writing and publishing for a long time. The road has been bumpy and will get more so as time goes on. But it’s worth it. You have to reach within yourself to see what your’re truly capable of.
Gene L. Coon: The Unsung Hero of Star Trek:
Gene Roddenberry has long been painted as the visionary who made Star Trek possible. Yet not much has been written on Gene L. Coon, the real workhorse behind the original series. This man built the universe around Roddenberry’s initial concept we all know today. He almost single handedly created the Klingons and had a hand in creating the franchise’s greatest villain…KHAN! Any notion of Starfleet Command, The United Federation of Planets, warp technology, and its fictional creator Zefram Cochrane all belong to him. Coon died from cancer at forty-nine, just as Star Trek got popular through reruns and conventions.
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What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?
My life was a total disaster before my author came along. He was like, I have this idea for a mystery series, but you and your dad have to move across the country. And I was like, seriously? All my friends are here. I’m in fifth grade and moving is gonna totally ruin my life. But after we got to Seaside Cove I realized he totally did me and my dad a huge favor ‘cause that’s how Daddy met Marquetta and I got to take on my first case.
What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?
Everybody says I’m super precocious, and I think that’s an awesome trait to have.
What do you like least about yourself?
Seriously? I don’t know you very well, but my author says you’re really nice, so I guess it’s okay. What I like least is that some of the little things scare me—like spiders. Ewww. I hate spiders with their little spindly legs.
What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?
He totally had to be having a messed up day ‘cause he tried to kill me and Marquetta by having us drive off a cliff on a mountain road. It was super scary and I thought for sure we were gonna die, but Marquetta’s an awesome driver so we survived. Don’t tell my author, but I still haven’t forgiven him for that.
Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?
Lady, I’m like eleven. When I try to argue with him, he grounds me and sends me to my room! It’s so totally unfair.
What is your greatest fear?
Wow, lady. You ask some super personal questions. My real mom wanted to be a big actress on Broadway more than she wanted to be my mom. That’s why my dad divorced her and moved us to Seaside Cove. So my biggest fear was that I’d grow up without a mom.
What makes you happy?
Having Marquetta in my life is what makes me the happiest. She’s the B&B’s cook, but now she’s also gonna marry my dad. The first time we met was like this super cool connection. She’d talked to my dad on the phone before we moved here and painted my room teal and purple ‘cause they’re my favorite colors. She’s always watching out for me and treats me the way I always wished my real mom would.
If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?
That’s easy! I’d rewrite the first years of my life so that Marquetta would have been my mom. My dad’s so much happier with her than he ever was before he met her.
Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?
None of the other characters has ever been mean to me before like Adela Barone. She showed up in Treasure Most Deadly and I kinda liked her, but then she started lying and I realized she wasn’t trying to be my friend at all. I totally don’t like people like that.
Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?
I’d love to trade places with Mayor Carter ‘cause she’s an adult and she owns an ice cream shop! I could eat ice cream all day long and never get grounded. It would also be a lot of fun to run the town. That would be pretty awesome!
Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find his website/blog?
My author won’t tell me his age, but I kinda think he’s really old ‘cause he’s been writing for a super long time. Learn more about him and all his books at his website.
What's next for you?
Right now, my author’s giving everybody in Seaside Cove a vacation while he works on the next Trouble in Paradise Mystery. I’m gonna totally enjoy my summer break and get ready for my dad and Marquetta’s wedding.
A Seaside Cove Bed and Breakfast Mystery, Book 5
Seaside Cove Bed & Breakfast owner Rick Atwood is again called on to assist his friend, Chief of Police Adam Cunningham, with a murder investigation. The case seems straightforward enough. Clive Crabbe, who has a quick temper and a strong jealous streak, was found hunched over the victim after the man made advances toward Clive’s ex-wife.
A murder investigation is the last thing Rick wants right now. The B&B is booked solid. The town is inundated with tourists and news reporters chasing stories about treasure thieves. And Rick’s wedding to Marquetta Weiss is just weeks away. As if that wasn’t enough, Rick’s eleven-year-old daughter Alex is not only itching to help the cops solve another murder, but she’s forming an unhealthy friendship with a B&B guest.
As the murder investigation progresses, Rick realizes Alex’s new friend could be at the center of everything. The worst part is that Alex may be the one person capable of cracking the case.
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What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?
Oh my. I was a lab rat, a scientist working on a world-wide genome project and living a quiet life in a small town. If you think it sounds boring, I’ll have to admit I was beginning to think so, too.
What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?
I like that once I make a commitment to some thing or someone, I follow through. Okay, the divorce was a different matter. I also have a very good work ethic. I know that sounds like I’m boasting, but it’s simply the truth.
What do you like least about yourself?
What I like least about myself is my stubbornness and determination to make my own decisions, a trait that put other people in danger.
What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?
She dropped me out of the sky in a plane crash, had me walking through the desert for two days, and then sat me down right on top of a rattlesnake. Egads, the woman is insane.
Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?
I like to say I knew better than to argue with her. Who knows what she would’ve had me doing if I made her mad?
What is your greatest fear?
What is my greatest fear? You mean besides spiders and snakes?
What makes you happy?
Good friends, good times, success, love. Let’s say after going through what I went through, just being alive makes me happy.
If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?
If I could rewrite part of this story, my dear, sweet friend Dan wouldn’t die. I’d only let him get injured so I could give him all the TLC he needed and nurse him back to health.
Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?
The character that bugs me the most is Esther, the sheriff’s new deputy. For some reason, we didn’t hit it off from the first second we met. I tried to be friendly, but she just brushed me aside. After the sheriff was murdered, she was really imperious, barking orders and sitting in the sheriff’s chair like it was already hers.
Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places
with? Why?
I think Lisa would be a good character to trade places with: Tall, model-thin, milk-chocolate eyes, a mane of blond hair, and girlfriend of the most eligible bachelor in town.
Tell us a little something about your author.
cj petterson is the pen name of Marilyn A. Johnston. A Texan raised in Michigan, Marilyn now lives in the hellacious heat and humidity of Alabama’s Gulf Coast.
She writes contemporary suspense/thrillers and mysteries with a touch of romance. I like that her strong protagonists and supporting characters take readers on a fast journey through stories filled with suspense and action. I especially like the sassy dialogue she put in my mouth. Several anthologies have published her nonfiction and fiction short stories, including a paranormal or two.
Marilyn/cj is a member of the international organization Sisters in Crime and their online Guppy chapter, the Alabama Writers Conclave, the Alabama Writers Forum, and a charter member of the Mobile Writers Guild.
Where can readers find her website/blog?
You can follow Marilyn/cj at www.lyricalpens.com
What's next for you?
That’s a million-dollar question. The one thing I’m absolutely sure of is that I won’t be spending the rest of my days hiding away in a laboratory. Been there, done that. I’ve got an opportunity to work with a private investigator in Sacramento. You know, doing things like follow cheating husbands and wives. But after my adventure in The Dawgstar got the sheriff murdered, I’ve been thinking I could make up for that by taking up where he left off and run for the job of sheriff. Imagine me, a lab rat being elected sheriff. My ex-husband thinks I’d look pretty sexy with a gun on my hip and a badge on my boob. I haven’t made up my mind yet. What do you think I should do?
Mirabel Campbell is a brilliant but bored scientist and amateur astronomer who wants to trade her microscope and telescope for a career with more excitement. She abruptly gets her wish when she spots what she thinks might be a new comet in the night sky. What she doesn't know could kill her because the flash of light is really a top-secret nanosatellite, and its discovery combined with her scientific specialty makes her the target of a mysterious psychopath who sends an assassin to silence her. Instead, friends begin to die around her. As if that wasn't enough, Sully, her CIA ex-husband gets involved, and she has to deal with some long-buried emotions. Mirabel must learn how to stay alive in a covert world of political intrigue where the unexpected is the norm, and she's not the kind of woman who'll wait for her ex-husband or anyone else to make her decisions. She made a promise to find out what's so special about that tiny point of light in the sky, and she intends to keep that promise.
The Dawgstar is a suspense/thriller filled with international political gangsterism, nanosatellites (real things), assassins, fears of frankenfood, and more! A Jane Bond-ish read with a touch of romance.
When did you realize you wanted to write novels?
I wrote stories when I was six years old—silly stories about taking animals on adventures—and I drew my cover art with crayons. I would sneak out of bed at night and write stories in a notebook. I have always identified as an author, and I can’t remember a time when I didn’t plan to write books.
How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?
I retired as a supervisory special agent in 2017 and started writing full time. Since then, I’ve written one nonfiction manuscript and six novels. Black Rose Writing will launch my debut on May 20 and my second novel on August 26. The other five manuscripts are in the editing or submission process. I have also published six creative nonfiction pieces, two short stories, fourteen essays, and one poem. It has taken me just over four years for my debut to hit the market, but my dream has been fifty years in the making.
Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?
I’m traditionally published, but I recently self-published a short story, The Interrogation, on Kindle Direct Publishing, and I plan to be a hybrid author. Traditional publishing offers many advantages, but self-publishing gives me more control.
Where do you write?
I have an elegant home office. My wife, Cynthia Farahat Higgins, is also a writer, and she allows me to use our office while she toils away in the dining room. We work within a few feet of each other, separated by French doors. She may enjoy keeping an eye on me.
Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?
I write with the window open so I can hear city sounds and with classical music playing on my computer. I can’t listen to songs with lyrics. My favorite writing music is Vivaldi’s “Four Seasons”. It puts me in the zone.
How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?
My wife is the strongest person I know. She formed an opposition political party in Egypt, and she has fought radical Islam around the world. Dagny Steele, my protagonist in Furious, was inspired by my wife’s courage.
What’s your quirkiest quirk?
I’m a little OCD. My wife often calls me Mr. Monk.
If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?
It’s hard to argue with the success of the Harry Potter series or Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch character, but I get the most satisfaction from telling my own stories.
City girl/guy or country girl/guy?
I’m a city guy. I grew up in a small New England town with more apple trees than people. We were only thirty miles west of Boston, but it was an effort to get there, especially as a child. I completed my undergrad at Boston University and have lived in cities ever since. The people and constant activity inspire me, and the convenience of walking to restaurants and bars is hard to give up.
What’s on the horizon for you?
Furious: Sailing into Terror launches on May 20, and Unseen: Evil Lurks Among Us, comes out on August 26. I’m marketing those and editing my next novel. There’s always a new book on the horizon!
Furious: Sailing into Terror
Trapped on a storm-damaged yacht, a grieving woman must conquer her worst fears and fight for her life, in a story described as The Shining on a yacht. Dr. Dagny Steele is on the verge of fulfilling her lifelong calling to become a pediatric surgeon when the sudden death of her daughter sends her into a crushing depression. Grief stricken and desperate to heal, she takes a leave of absence and sails across the Indian Ocean with her husband. Dagny begins to recover from her tragic loss when her voyage turns into a nightmare. Isolated and hunted at sea—can she survive a deadly crucible?
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What was your life like before your author started pulling your strings?
I had a simple and quiet life where not much of anything ever happened. I liked my life, but my author sure knows how to turn up the thrills.
What’s the one trait you like most about yourself?
Even though I suffer from PTSD, I have the courage and perseverance to push ahead out of my comfort zone to catch killers.
What do you like least about yourself?
I carry a lot of baggage. I keep to myself about many things and I would like to be able to talk to my closest friends more.
What is the strangest thing your author has had you do or had happen to you?
Well, there have been a few things. But the one that stands out was when the bad guy locked me and my partner in a cargo container. I don't have to tell you how scary that was.
Do you argue with your author? If so, what do you argue about?
No, we rarely argue. Sometimes I question whether or not I should do something, but other than that we're fine.
What is your greatest fear?
No being able to save a victim and not being able to work another cold case.
What makes you happy?
It's having my good friends and my uncle to be there for me if I need it. And my military K9 Cisco always makes me happy, especially after a bad day.
If you could rewrite a part of your story, what would it be? Why?
Hmm. That's a tough one. I would have to say that my parents weren't killed in a car accident when I was a teenager. I would love to have more time with my parents especially after being in the Army and joining the police department.
Of the other characters in your book, which one bugs you the most? Why?
Most of the co-characters are pretty cool. It's the bad guys and serial killers that really bug me—to the point of anger. I get tunnel vision and I will eventually catch them.
Of the other characters in your book, which one would you love to trade places with? Why?
It would be fun to trade places with Denise, my friend and co-worker; she's such a kind and wonderful person. She works as the supervisor in the records division at the sheriff's department. I love spending time with her because her temperament is opposite of mine.
Tell us a little something about your author. Where can readers find her website/blog?
I respect my author. She always plans such exciting cases for me, but I remind her frequently that she needs to take some time off to relax. You can find her at her website.
What's next for you?
I'm not sure, but there are more cases for me to solve. My author keeps things quiet until I have to jump into action. There is another book in the series coming up soon.
A Detective Katie Scott Thriller, Book 5
When the bodies of eleven and twelve-year-old sisters, Tessa and Megan, are found at the bottom of a ravine—dressed in matching pastel summer outfits, their small bodies broken from the fall—Detective Katie Scott is called to one of the most shocking and heartbreaking crime scenes of her career.
Carefully picking through the fragile remains, Katie makes the first of many disturbing discoveries: the girls were not biological sisters. The youngest, Megan, is a DNA match to a kidnapping case years before. The tiny number burnt into her skin the mark of a terrifying killer intent on keeping count of his collection.
Her PTSD from the army triggered, Katie is left reeling as she maps other missing children in the local area.Has this twisted soul found a way to stay nearby his victims? Could he be watching now as Katie hits one dead end after another?
A wild storm building, matching a fiber found during the autopsy to a nearby boatyard is the break Katie needs. But when another girl goes missing, just as lightning strikes and the power goes out, Katie only has her instincts, her team and her service dog to rely on. As time runs out for Katie to finds the stolen child alive, who will become the next number on this monster’s deadly list?
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When did you realize you wanted to write novels?
I never thought about writing until I turned thirty-five. I was always a reader. But I went through a stretch of time where I couldn’t fall asleep at night and one night as I lay there staring at the ceiling, a man appeared. He stood at a window with smokestacks billowing in the background. Then he turned to me and said, “My life wasn’t supposed to turn out like this.”
I started telling myself his story and then other people came to live in my head, and they wouldn’t go away until I started writing about them. And that’s how I came to realize I wanted to write novels.
How long did it take you to realize your dream of publication?
One year to be published in Woman’s World… thirty something years before my first novel was published. Since that novel, I’ve had thirteen novels published.
Are you traditionally published, indie published, or a hybrid author?
I’m mostly traditionally, but I’ve been included in several indie anthologies that have hit the USA Today Bestseller list.
Where do you write?
I turned a bedroom into an office. When it’s warm enough, but not too warm, I write on my deck.
Is silence golden, or do you need music to write by? What kind?
If I think about it, I’ll play classical music…but no words.
How much of your plots and characters are drawn from real life? From your life in particular?
Parts of me are in all of my characters, even the villains…I mean, which of us hasn’t had an urge to kill a back-stabbing best friend?
Describe your process for naming your character?
Most of my main characters appear fully named. If they don’t, I can’t get started until I find the perfect name. The first place I start is the Social Security Baby Name site.
Real settings or fictional towns?
I’ve written both. The series I’m working on now is set in Natchez, Mississippi and the Natchez Trace Parkway. My next series is set near the Mississippi coast in the Pearl River basin—I got tired of trying make sure I got the street names and businesses correct.
What’s the quirkiest quirk one of your characters has?
My characters don’t have a lot of quirks, but in Obsession, the heroine, Emma, doesn’t like chocolate chip cookies. I’ve had a few comments about that.
What’s your quirkiest quirk?
I’ve been dating the same guy for 23 years.
If you could have written any book (one that someone else has already written,) which one would it be? Why?
There are so many, but I’ll settle on one The Eye of The Needle by Ken Follett. I don’t know why, just that I still remember it after, what is it, 43 years? I’d love to write something that a reader would remember like that.
Everyone at some point wishes for a do-over. What’s yours?
That’s a hard one. There are a lot of things I’ve done that I regret, but if I did a do-over, it would change my whole life from that point on. And I might not be where I am now…a place I like very much.
What’s your biggest pet peeve?
Negative people. I try to steer clear of them, but it’s hard sometimes when they in your family.
You’re stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?
My Bible. Unlimited supply of eyebrow pencils (almost no eyebrows lol), Chocolate.
What was the worst job you’ve ever held?
A waitress. I dropped a plate of food on a customer…
What’s the best book you’ve ever read?
So many…Exodus by Leon Uris.
Ocean or mountains?
Both
City girl/guy or country girl/guy?
Country girl…unless it’s a small town.
What’s on the horizon for you?
I’ll start writing a new series about a female sheriff in Mississippi—we don’t have one, and I think it’s high time we did.
Anything else you’d like to tell us about yourself and/or your books?
I love writing and was published rather late in life, so I want to encourage anyone out there who thinks they’re too old to start writing, they’re not. You’re never too old to tell a story.
Natchez Trace Park Rangers Series, Book 2
Natchez Trace Ranger and historian Emma Winters hoped never to see Sam Ryker again after she broke off her engagement to him. But when shots are fired at her at a historical landmark just off the Natchez Trace, she's forced to work alongside Sam as the Natchez Trace law enforcement district ranger in the ensuing investigation. To complicate matters, Emma has acquired a delusional secret admirer who is determined to have her as his own. Sam is merely an obstruction, one which must be removed.
Sam knows that he has failed Emma in the past and he doesn't intend to let her down again. Especially since her life is on the line. As the threads of the investigation cross and tangle with their own personal history, Sam and Emma have a chance to discover the truth, not only about the victim but about what went wrong in their relationship.
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To compensate for her lack of a traditional Northeastern holiday, she’d be the first to admit she went more than a little bit overboard. First, she bought an artificial Christmas tree and left it up year-round. But that wasn’t enough. She then decided to buy artificial trees for each room of her new home. Some were small, some large. Some traditional, others, like feather trees, not so much. She strung lights and hung wreaths in every room and interspersed other holiday decorations throughout the house. Each room had a specific Christmas theme, such as Santas, or snowflakes, or angels. It was like living in a year-round Christmas shop. Or an extremely scaled down version of the Biltmore Estate at Christmas.
But it made her happy. And that’s all that mattered.
Has this anecdote made you want to get a jump on your holiday-themed reading? Christmas in July sales are just around the corner, but now through May. 19th you can grab an e-copy of the 2-book Christmas bundle of the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, Books 7-8, which include Drop Dead Ornaments and Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide, for only $.99. After the 19th, the set goes back to the regular price of $7.99.
Drop Dead Ornaments
Anastasia Pollack's son Alex is dating Sophie Lambert, the new kid in town. For their community service project, the high school seniors have chosen to raise money for the county food bank. Anastasia taps her craft industry contacts to donate materials for the students to make Christmas ornaments they'll sell at the town's annual Holiday Crafts Fair.
At the fair Anastasia meets Sophie's father, Shane Lambert, who strikes her as a man with secrets. She also notices a woman eavesdropping on their conversation. Later that evening when the woman turns up dead, Sophie's father is arrested for her murder.
Alex and Sophie beg Anastasia to find the real killer, but Anastasia has had her fill of dead bodies. She's also not convinced of Shane's innocence. Besides, she's promised younger son Nick she'll stop risking her life. But how can she say no to Alex?
Handmade Ho-Ho Homicide
Two and a half weeks ago magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack arrived home to find Ira Pollack, her half-brother-in-law, had blinged out her home with enough Christmas lights to rival Rockefeller Center. Now he's crammed her small yard with enormous cavorting inflatable characters. She and photojournalist boyfriend (and possible spy) Zack Barnes pack up the unwanted lawn decorations to return to Ira. They arrive to find his yard the scene of an over-the-top Christmas extravaganza. His neighbors are not happy with the animatronics, laser light show, and blaring music creating traffic jams on their normally quiet street. One of them expresses his displeasure with his fists before running off.
In the excitement, the deflated lawn ornaments are never returned to Ira. The next morning Anastasia once again heads to his house before work to drop them off. When she arrives, she discovers Ira's attacker dead in Santa's sleigh. Ira becomes the prime suspect in the man's murder and begs Anastasia to help clear his name. But Anastasia has promised her sons she'll keep her nose out of police business. What's a reluctant amateur sleuth to do?
Craft projects included in both books.
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Home, Home on the Range…
...where how many deer and antelope can live together in harmony, finding enough to feed themselves without running out of food for twelve months at a time?
That’s the question and I’ve found over the years that there are writers who seem to forget about those details when they write about life on a ranch. I understand that, to many, the idea of land mass is something outside the boundaries of their normal world, since most live in a house, set in a yard, in a block of like yards and never stop to think about how much space they actually occupy.
I remember reading my first romantic suspense novel about thirty years ago, while living on my hobby farm (anything under 10 acres in my locale) and raising horses. I knew I could safely feed and look after two horses on the first four acres and one on each of the other 6 acres (based on how much they eat and how much I’d have to feed them hay and grain.) Then I read the book—I don’t remember its name or who wrote it, and when I read out loud how much fit on the hero’s ten acre ‘ranch’, my husband and I burst into hysterical laughter and loud guffaws. Why? Because the writer had a herd of 100+ cattle on a ten-acre ranch. Kid you not! Those cows would have been standing on top of each other.
On four acres of pasture, you can feed two horses, for one year, and you will have to supplement.
On ten acres, you can have a smallish herd of 6-8, absolutely no more than 10, with no buildings, trees, barns or riding rings/arenas. On eighty acres, you could care for—well here it gets tricky, so you sign into sites like this one, answer the questions, and their algorithm supply the answer. Or you ask someone like me who can answer the question for you. I’d tell you about one horse per acre, IF: there are no trees, creeks running through the land, houses, barns, riding rings, garage for your car, sheds for your farm equipment or any other building you can think to put on this fictional ranch. And if there’s a road running through it, take more land from the horses and remember that it does not take more than a few minutes to drive from one end to the other.
I remember one book where it took someone about ten minutes from the gate to the house, on 50 acres. NO! Maybe thirty seconds at 20 mph.
One of the ways I explain acreage to others is that one square mile is 640 acres. If your speed is 30 miles an hour on a straight, flat road, you could drive from one side to the other in two minutes.
Never go too small. Readers will catch you out, and if they understand land mass, there’s nothing that throws them out of a story faster than ridiculous numbers of animals and dwellings on too few acres.
My new release, Eagle Down, is the third book in my Cyber Cowboys series, and while most of the action in the first two books centers around dog kennels and ranches (not farms—there is a complete difference,) the third book takes place on a ranch with a side trip to a hospital. These books came from my overstimulated imagination but are factually based on what I know—breeding and showing horses and Labrador Retrievers, farming and veterinary care of said animals.
Even the flying: I took the ground school part of my pilot’s license but had a major problem with cloud formations. But again, it is something I know a little about. Many of the incidents in my books are based on actual experience. As far as locations, I use Google, Google maps, and my map books to keep me informed. I use the satellite view a lot to tell me about the topography. And if I’m quoting cattle prices, I use the market information in the area for my prices. And to do that you have to know ranch language—like the definition of a boner steer.
The internet is a huge source of this information if you ask the question correctly. Someone with knowledge and experience can be even better. I set most of my books just outside Portland in the Pacific Northwest (a fictional town) or the state of Wyoming. I’ve been to Portland twice. Thank goodness for Google! And if you need help, contact me at mellekelso@gmail.com—I’m happy to assist if I can.
Cyber Cowboy Series, Book 4
Meet the Cyber Cowboys—a tough bunch of private eyes who know computers and the law inside out and backward. Every time they step out of their computer-P.I. boots—answer a call that doesn’t include black-hat hackers, online hustlers and fraudulent con artists—they meet nothing but trouble. Attempted murder, arson, rustling, and abduction they can handle. Falling in love sends them looking for the ‘help’ button. Computers? Artificial intelligence has nothing to do with it! In every case, these laid back investigators have to get down and dirty to save the women they love. They help multi-national companies and governments fix their problems...but when trouble hits and love gets involved? They’re the ones who need rescuing
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The Corbin, Taylor & Wynn Investigative Agency is three men (Blake Corbin, Jared Wynn and David Taylor) who’ve been in business together for years. The agency is headquartered in Cheyenne, Wyoming when the series begins but soon moves to the foothills of the Big Horn Mountains. Business is so good they hire additional investigators and even the new guys aren’t immune to the trouble love can cause.
The Cyber Cowboys series is four stories of romantic suspense and skullduggery set in Wyoming and Oregon. Additional stories may augment the series based on the characters who work for the agency.
In Mercy Rule we meet Will Carter, the first non-computer-literate member of the Agency. Will is a lawyer/legal investigator with the Seattle DA’s office when Blake offers him a job. His first case takes him back to Seattle and nearly costs him his life when defense attorney Mercy Brittain’s brother Todd is abducted.
Grace Topping is a recovering technical writer and IT project manager accustomed to writing lean, boring documents. Now she’s a USA Today bestselling author of the Laura Bishop home staging cozy mystery series where she kills off characters who remind her of people she dealt with during her career. Learn more about her and her books at her website.
Never Give Up, Never Surrender
People often say they would like to write a book or that they are writing one. But statistics show that a whopping ninety-seven percent of people who start a book never finish it. Startling statistics. It made me wonder what enabled me to write a book and have it published and not end up part of the ninety-seven percent.
I don’t have outstanding writing talent, nor do I possess compelling stories that nearly write themselves. I spent a career writing technical manuals, procedural guides, and policy. All pretty boring stuff. And although that experience helped me develop a good sense of grammar and organization, it didn’t help move me into writing anything that required some imagination—especially writing murder mysteries. What if I had thought I couldn’t write fiction?
So what did I possess that helped me become a published author? I can only chalk it up to sheer stubbornness. I was like the character in the film, Galaxy Quest, who continually states, “Never give up, never surrender.” Once I decided to write a cozy mystery, I was just too stubborn to give up. What if I hadn’t been so stubborn?
I began my mystery-writing journey when I signed up for an online course on mystery writing through my local community college. The course required work, and I noticed as the course progressed how many people began dropping out. I kept at it and came out of it with a complete outline for my mystery. What if I had found the course too much work and quit?
With the outline, I had a road map for my story. It didn’t take me long to flesh it out, but when I finished the complete first draft and wrote The End, I only had 45,000 words. A far cry from the 70,000 words required by most publishers for a cozy mystery. What if I had decided I didn’t have anything more to add to the story and had given up?
So I brainstormed and thought of things I could add. Some of my ideas were pretty lame, but somehow I got them to work. I polished my manuscript and gave it to five friends to read and give me feedback. They were supportive and gave me suggestions on which to base changes. What if I had been reluctant to show my work to anyone or been discouraged by their comments and stopped there?
I kept learning all I could about writing novels, specifically mysteries, and attended several mystery conferences. I met other aspiring writers there and formed friendships. They encouraged me and offered to read my manuscript and provide feedback—this time from experienced mystery writers. I took their suggestions and started rewriting. What if I had been reluctant to attend a conference or had been too shy to approach other writers?
Having made strides in my writing, I joined professional organizations that support mystery writers, specifically Sisters in Crime (SINC) and Mystery Writers of America. Through SINC, I discovered an online chapter, the Guppies, that consisted of unpublished mystery writers helping each other to move ahead. They kept me going when I got discouraged. What if I had viewed myself as unworthy of being a member of a professional organization?
Throughout the intervening years, ten in fact, I learned much about writing mysteries. I revised my first manuscript thirty-eight times. What if I had stopped at version ten, twenty, or even thirty-seven?
Then I took the next hard step—querying agents requesting representation. I sent out queries, week after week, sometimes hearing no thanks, and other times hearing nothing at all. What if I decided I couldn’t deal with rejection?
No matter what, I didn’t give up, and when that call came from an agent saying that she liked my manuscript and wanted to represent me, I was sure glad I hadn’t. She sold my manuscript to a small publisher, and my first book, Staging is Murder came out—almost ten years from the month I completed that online course. It became an Agatha Award finalist for Best First Mystery and a USA Today bestseller. My second book, Staging Wars, came out April 2020. This past April, Upstaged by Murder was published.
So if you want to write a mystery or accomplish anything else, remember, never give up, never surrender.
Have you ever thought about writing a book?
Upstaged by Murder
A Laura Bishop Home Staging Cozy Mystery, Book 3
When professional home stager Laura Bishop enters a competition to become the next TV home staging star, she figures it will be murder—but she doesn’t expect it to include a body. As tensions rise and rivalries rage, a coded notebook flips the script and Laura’s on the case.
But she’s not alone. Her closest confidantes pitch in by sleuthing, eavesdropping, and even staging a sting to protect those near and dear. Yet she’s still corralling a runaway teen, sparring with a handsome detective, and handling the shock of her life with a blast from her past. All while creating a cozy cabin retreat fit for first place.
Amidst constant cameras and glaring lights, Laura tries to style the stage and pull back the curtain on a killer before her career—and her life—get cut.
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