AUTHOR LOIS WINSTON'S NEWEST ADDICTION--CROSSWORD PUZZLES

Author Lois Winston, she who writes about me, stops by today to talk about her latest addiction. Maybe she’ll write me an addiction like this and forget about dumping dead bodies at my feet? A reluctant amateur sleuth can only hope…

I’ve recently become hooked on crossword puzzles. With everything else I have to squeeze into the twenty-four hours of each day, this seems rather puzzling to me—pun intended! After all, I have a book to finish writing, and contrary to Anastasia’s hopes, I have no intention of refraining from dumping dead bodies at her feet. My readers would be extremely upset.

I also have a staggering number of unread books piling up on my bookshelves and in my Kindle. At this rate I’ll need to live well past the century mark before I get to them all. And yet, I keep buying more books! Then there’s life in general, including family responsibilities, and of course, the need to sleep at least several hours a night.

So why am I devoting nearly an hour each day to the crossword puzzles in my two daily newspapers? (Yes, I still read newspapers. It’s where I get many of my ideas for my novels and all those dead bodies Anastasia complains about.)

I think my new addiction must be attributed to my dear friend Janice. She passed away recently after an eight-month battle with Stage 4 cancer. I spent much of that time taking her to doctor appointments and chemo and visiting with her during her many hospitalizations. Janice always carried around crossword puzzles with her. As a retired R.N., she knew the importance of keeping her mind sharp, and she did so by exercising her brain in two ways: She was a voracious reader of mysteries and romances and a diehard crossword puzzle fan.

Having sat with her during hours of chemo, I know how difficult it is to concentrate on a book during these sessions, given the constant chatter from fifteen other chemo patients, their accompanying friends or family members, and the nursing staff, all filling one fairly small room. In addition, a TV was always blaring in the background. So Janice passed the time working her crossword puzzles when she tired of conversation.

I sat down to work my first crossword puzzle after returning from her memorial service. It had been an extremely emotional day, especially since, as her oldest friend, I was one of the speakers. Perhaps she was somehow sending me a subliminal message from Heaven that day. She had always believed in angels, ghosts, and premonitions. I’ve always pooh-poohed the supernatural. Was this her way of telling me she was right and I was wrong? Maybe. Because now I’m working crossword puzzles each day to honor her memory and our lifelong friendship. Hopefully, it will help keep my mind sharp. After all, there are more Anastasia books to write and all those books to read, especially if it’s going to take me decades to do so.

How about you? Have you ever had an experience that caused you to rethink how you felt about something?

BOOK CLUB FRIDAY--GUEST AUTHOR TRACEE LYDIA GARNER

Tracee Lydia Garner published her first book at the age of twenty-three after winning the BET First Time Writer’s Contest. She’s been publishing ever since. She’s also a social worker and public speaker dealing with the issues that concern people with disabilities and the physical and attitudinal barriers they face. Learn more about Tracee and her books at her website/blog.

Time management: 5 Tips to do More with Your Time and Do It More Efficiently

At some point I learned a few tricks to get more done with less. We all have the same amount of time, but man, are some people using it better than the rest of us! Despite feeling pretty confident about my own ability to manage my time better, I’ve discovered there’s always more to learn. Here are some tidbits and a few new discoveries I’ve employed to make time work for me.

Take your own pictures for your Blog or other social media. We all have some sort of newsletter either as a writer or contributor or side hustle we enjoy. I was looking for pictures of words the other day for an exercise I give my students. I teach How to Write a Novel at the local college. When I couldn’t find something I liked and wanted that was free and clear (copyrights), I took my own. You can take your own pictures. You can even make extra money selling them to photo sites. Do your homework if you decide to do this.

DVR everything - I'm sorry I just can't do it anymore - sit through commercials or watch things in real time. I can’t believe I’ve had a DVR for about 7 years and really only recently started using it more purposefully. Now of course I’m getting spoiled, I can’t seem to watch anything that hasn’t been “recorded”. Can I also say that I’ve been cutting off the TV and when using the DVR you are especially “running” through the commercials? Doing that alone seems to have given me less of an opportunity to be wooed (coerced) by advertisers into buying something I just don’t need, which could really and truly affect your bottom line.

Note that with the DVR, if it’s something I really want to see and chat with friends/coworkers about the next day, then I just start the program 15-30 minutes into the show. You can still save time shaving off some minutes and finish at the same time as everyone else.

Make a Master List of all the foods you buy on a regular basis. Copy it (save it on your computer) but make a few copies of it and have it on your fridge or a drawer in the kitchen. You and your family can highlight or circle items, and then you’re ready to go.

Label it properly, put it away, and leave out the master to-do list - To cut down on clutter, which also reduces mental clutter and feeling overwhelmed, I’ve put away stacks and stacks of paper into folders that are properly labeled and then filed them away, thus freeing my desk up for space and comfort. Just keep a running list of things to do, front and center, put the rest away and only pull it out when you’re ready to work on that particular item. A timer can also help with this and a simple timer is available on your phone or computer.

Compose anything using talk to text My all-time-favorite and Newest Better Time Management Discovery is depressing that tiny little microphone picture to talk my lists, parts of my book, e-mails and other kinds of output. Part of this blog post was written using talk to text at 4:00 in the a.m. when insomnia sets in. I make lists and mostly write about 300 - 1000 words for my story with this little gizmo. It’s available on almost every phone, no matter your carrier or brand. Look for the little microphone button, just try it. Open an e-mail and speak, even tone and normal like conversing with a friend, that’s a friend with perfect hearing. There’s no reason to yell or enunciate your words (unless you have a thick accent) for the talking to texting feature on your phone, and you can spell out names if it doesn’t recognize some of the unusual ones.

There you go. Just a few things you might not have thought about. I can’t wait to see what new time management practices I’ll adopt in the year to come. Want more productivity and time management advice? I explore this topic in depth through a four-part series that appeared on my blog.

Anchored Hearts

Despite her prestigious professional role, Allontis Baxter’s private life is in shambles. She’s just broken up with her no-good boyfriend, her adopted mother figure is dying in the hospital and now she’s been turned down in an attempt to adopt a child of her own. Plus, Allontis’s old flame Cole Parker has returned to their hometown from New York City, causing her dilemmas to multiply as old feelings are rekindled. What’s a successful and motivated nonprofit career woman to do?

When a series of chance encounters at work fling her into the middle of a mysterious scandal, Allontis realizes she’s caught up in a dangerous game that could send her chaotic life up in flames. Struggling to keep the pieces of her own life together while protecting those she loves, Allontis is forced to confront the true meaning of family and to face some demons of her own. 

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BOOK CLUB FRIDAY -- GUEST AUTHOR TERRI ANN ARMSTRONG

Today’s Book Club Friday guest is Terri Ann Armstrong, author of the “How To” mystery series. The first book in the series, How To Plant a Body, was released in April. She’s also the author of the “Menacing Trilogy” and an executive editor for Suspense Magazine. To learn more about Terri Ann, visit her website. 

Terri Ann is offering an ebook version of How To Plant a Body to one of our readers who posts a comment this week.  -- AP

A Stitch in Time

As an author, sometimes it’s hard to balance all the things in life that aren’t connected to my current book. When you write, sometimes there is nothing that fulfills you like catering to your passion, which is also true for any passion you have in your life, whether it be, crafts, cooking, traveling, wine tasting, dancing, whatever you covet. My biggest problem is, when the story is moving along and I’m really into it, the characters talk to me and when things like that happen, it’s best to obey otherwise, words, ideas and situations are easily lost. Even when you remember what you wanted to do, it doesn’t quite turn out the way you know it would have if you’d paid attention in the first place.

So now, I do reviews, I’m also an executive editor for Suspense Magazine, a mom, a grandma, a sister and friend. I also have the very day things in life like house cleaning, etc. I often comment I’m so happy I’m no longer married—who’s got the time?

Organization is not so much of a problem anymore. I sometimes cook meals ahead, crock pots are God’s gift to the busy woman, I have more lists and notes to myself you’d think I lived in a commune if you saw all the notes around my house, but it keeps me on track—when I read them of course. There’s the rub. You have to do as the notes tell you so you don’t end up in an empty bathtub, dressed with a bottle of merlot in your hand and your laptop on your knees trying to remember the last time you ate. Now there’s always a chance the wine played a part in your missing the notes, but it had to start somewhere.

So when you find yourself frazzled and forgetting to defrost the chicken or eating pork and beans from the can or you are being serenaded by the dust bunnies camping out underneath your bed, remember, notes, lists and agendas can help you organize so everything you want to accomplish in a day will come to fruition. And you will never again be sticking yourself with a sewing needle while trying to hem your daughter’s prom dress hem while she’s running out the door.

Thanks for joining us today, Terri Ann. I so know where you’re coming from. All those lists do nothing if we forget to check them! How about you, readers? Let’s hear from you. Post a comment, and you could win a copy of How To Plant a Body. Don't forget to check back on Sunday to see if you're the winner. -- AP