Tariffied: Impacts on Publishing, Writing, & Creativity

Hello, Type M Readers & Writers:

Shelley here reporting from an island in the Philippine Sea and feeling very weirded-out by everything going on over there on the mainland. Guam is a far-away outpost of the USA. My husband works for the Department of the Navy. We've been on island since January, trying to get our bearings. It would have been difficult in normal circumstances. 

Now I don't know whether to be grateful to be off the mainland or terrified. 

I'm a worrier. When my husband decided to apply for this position, November's election hadn't yet happened. I voiced some concerns about what if things go sideways while we're there, but we decided to take a chance. Yup. We chose this, so I can't complain or say it was totally unexpected. That it's toward the worse end of the spectrum of outcomes I'd considered saddens and alarms me. It's not the absolute worst. Yet. But we are darn close to China here. 

One thing I can say is that all this chaos and uncertainty is impacting my writing. I'm trying oh so hard to build a creative sanctuary in my head and my home, but short of turning off the news altogether and living in a fantasy world of there's nothing happening lalalalala puppies and unicorns, I don't see how I can ignore the sitch out there and concentrate on fictional narratives. 

Perhaps I should consider it a challenge. If I can manage to flex these concentration muscles now, I might be able to continue to create no matter what happens in two weeks, three months, or four years. 

I mean, haven't some authors written works while actually jailed? 

A quick Google search pulls up a list of ten best books written in jail. These include Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory, Don Quixote by Cervantes, and Justine by the Marquis de Sade. (Note 1)

Okay, so if Mallory could write while moldering in the not-so-cozy confines of a 15th-century prison, certainly I can write while holed up in an ocean-facing condo in the beautiful, tropical island paradise that is Guam. And honestly, diving into fictional worlds might be the best antidote to the news cycle if I can only get myself to ignore it. 

My new table, cushions, and pillows on the balcony

I'd love to hear how other writers are handling this. Feel free to comment. 

Publishing and Writing Community Impacts

I try to immerse myself in the literary life, but even the book world news is somber. I've somehow signed up for a ridiculous number of Substack newsletters, and one came in today from a new indie publisher of mid-life women's books, Empress Publications. They are just launching a new nonfiction book on mid-life women's sexuality written by a medical doctor. They contracted with an artisanal, women-owned press in China to create a pretty book on bamboo paper. (Note 2)

Now, because of the new tariffs and closing of the de minimis loophole, the book is going to cost a lot more to get into the hands of readers. Who wins here? Anyone? 

Maybe the environment? All this mail-ordering and purchasing cheap throw-away goods isn't so good for the planet. As someone concerned with sustainability and over-consumption, I take this as perhaps the only positive glimmer on a dark sea of awful. But books? We keep those. We pass them down. They aren't throw-away items. Not the good ones anyway. I digress...

The de minimis exemption was a bipartisan law passed by Congress that allowed shipments valued under $800 per person per day to enter the U.S.A. without duty charges or taxes. According to the National Foreign Trade Council, American small business plus consumers benefited from the exemption and provided low-income communities access to affordable goods...including books. (Note 3)

That's not the worst of it. Almost everything that is sourced outside the U.S., including paper and books and ink and parts for printing presses, etc. is going to have increased tariffs. That means production will slow or goods will cost more or both. I think the publishing industry at all levels is going to suffer. 

Between cutting funding to libraries and museums and now these new tariffs, one has to wonder if our country cares at all about readers, authors, booksellers, literacy, books, or the arts in general. Is America ditching reading and culture altogether? 

Some may protest: "It's not me that's doing this!" Well, I'm sorry, but we can't pretend we aren't part of the country that is making these decisions. When our country does something...WE ARE doing it. If we let these actions continue, we are doing it. If we don't gather together and tell our representatives to go in a different direction, we are doing it. 

😀 Maybe this will all turn out just fine, and I'm worrying about nothing. 

Some of you may sincerely believe this is just a small bump in the road and everything is gonna be okay. I sincerely hope you are right. If I'm worrying about nothing, that will be the best outcome. I'll have only grown some new gray hairs and maybe shaved a few days off the end of my life. I'll even give credit where credit is due. 

I may not be feeling the fiction writing right now, but I do seem to be capable of writing opinion essays. Maybe this is just where I have to dwell for now. Meanwhile, I'm researching for a potential series set in the 1960s, so I'm not completely wasting my time. I have books to read, notes to take, ideas to spin. 

Let's hope this chaos calms down before summer. 

Note 1: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/sep/19/books-written-in-prison

Note 2: https://open.substack.com/pub/alisajones/p/zippers-tariffs-and-the-price-of

Note 3: https://www.nftc.org/de-minimis-a-vital-tax-exemption/

 

Shorter

 I (Donis) am doing rewrites on a new book. The first draft came in at 108,000 words, mainly because this is a whole new setting and cast of characters for me, and I spent a lot of time wandering around and getting to know them. So that's done. Now I have to get the MS down to a manageable size, and believe me, it is not proving to be an easy task. I do love my own voice.

If you want to keep your readers' attention, however, cut to the chase. Especially these days, as many readers have no patience with description or exposition. In fact, I once heard a Famous Author say one of the best things he ever did to improve his novel-writing style and technique was to learn to write poetry. I've pondered this statement and I must agree that there is nothing like poetry to teach you to use the fewest possible words to make the biggest possible impact on the reader.

The amazing thing is that once you've written a few poems, once you've learned to fit your idea into the shortest possible form, your long-form style automatically changes without your having to even think about it. Your prose gains a vigor it didn't have before, because its power isn't dissipated in a miasma of unnecessary words.

That's the idea behind haiku, the style of Japanese poetry that strives to make a point, capture a moment, punch you between the eyes. To give you a powerful image in seventeen syllables, three lines of five, seven, and five.

I was looking for a few gorgeous haiku to use as an illustration of the beauty of brevity, a couple of gems about nature and mankind by great ancient practitioners like Basho. Instead I came across translations of several modern haiku written by software geeks in Japan for use as computer error messages. I think they show that an ancient form can serve modern sensibilities dandily.

Windows has crashed/I am the Blue Screen of Death/No one hears your screams.

Three things are certain/Death, taxes, and loss data/Guess which has occurred?

Yesterday it worked/Today it is not working/Windows is like that.

You step in the stream/But the water has moved on/This page is not here.

Serious error/All shortcuts have disappeared/ Screen. Mind. Both are blank.

Another Anthology Event

 by Sybil Johnson

I spent last Saturday afternoon at The Last Bookstore in Studio City for a Sisters in Crime/L.A. anthology event. As you may remember, I talked about the previous event for Angel City Beat that was held in Vroman’s in Pasadena.

I’m very happy to be part of this anthology and have really enjoyed these events. They were both a little different. At Vroman’s we each read from our stories and talked about why we chose the professions for our protagonists. This time around we talked about the inspiration for our stories and how it tied into the anthology theme. We also talked about how our protagonists are like us. For me that was being a bit analytical and loving libraries.

It was interesting to see where people get their inspiration from. There’s a good variety of stories in the anthology. 

The bookstore was also interesting. It’s a fairly new one, an offshoot of The Last Bookstore in downtown Los Angeles. The space used to be a prop house where TV and movies would get props for their projects so it’s quite large. There are various rooms and interesting sculptures, which seemed to be for sale. Here are some photos for you: 

 

Vanishing Book Reviews

by Charlotte Hinger

The mother of all book reviews is the New York Times. The lucky author whose book is reviewed by this prestigious publication will see sales leap. We should all be this fortunate. The other "best" places to be reviewed are Publisher's Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Library Journal, and Booklist.

Kirkus Reviews gives a prize of $50,000 to the best fiction book, the best non-fiction, and young reader's literature. Wow!

But here's the rub when it comes to reviews. Library Journal gets more than 60,000 requests a year. So does Booklist. That's 5000 a month, 1200 a week, 250 books a day. Kirkus Reviews receives 200 submissions per day.

My Recent historical novel, Mary's Place, did not get reviewed by any of these publications. Previously, two of my mysteries received starred reviews from Kirkus, and all of my other historical novels had been received by at least one of the magazines.

I was disappointed. Dumb me, I had not realized how much the publishing world had changed. Review sections are much smaller. Magazines are thinner because of the price of paper and because of the decrease in advertising revenue.

All of the places which grant reviews have guidelines. Following guidelines is crucial. One of the most constant "rules" is to submit a book about four months ahead of publication.

Here are the guidelines from Kirkus Reviews:

The following guidelines are intended to help publishers get the right titles into the right hands at the right time so they can receive consideration.

WHEN TO SUBMIT Kirkus will consider titles that are submitted as digital galleys or e-books at least 4-5 months before publication date. As soon as a book is reviewed—usually 2-3 months before its publication date—the publisher is notified of the review rundate.

WHAT TO SUBMIT We consider all new adult hardcover or original trade-paperback fiction, general-audience nonfiction, and children’s and teen books. Editors make individual judgments about coverage based on merit or potential interest.

Kirkus does not review books in the categories listed below in its traditional program. (Kirkus Indie does not put genre or publication date limits on submissions; see more information about that program here.)

—already published books
—reprints of books that Kirkus has previously reviewed
—self-published titles
—print-on-demand titles
—poetry (except children’s and teen)
—cookbooks
—crafting books
—guidebooks, including travel guides
—personal finance
—textbooks
—specialized technical or professional works
—any work intended primarily for an academic audience
—reference books
—instruction or how-to manuals
—screenplays or other dramatic scripts
—computer and technology handbooks
—books of regional interest

Fortunately, there are oodles of websites created by book bloggers who might give your book the attention it deserves.

What I'm reading

 by Steve Pease/Michael Chandos

     I have a Really bad habit of reading in bed before submitting to the seduction of sleep. I like the quiet focus of night to dive deeply into a short story or novel. Why is it a bad habit?

     I have a nice recliner with a standing lamp on a swing arm to customize the light on whatever I'm reading, a light blanket for my legs (30 March and an inch of snow last night here at 7500 ft in Colorado), and a table full of future reads beside them. But I still read in bed.

     Unfortunately, I have been teaching my mind that, when we read, we soon sleep. Now, when I sit down to read something, I start yawning within ten minutes! You don't get much reading done in ten to twenty minute bites, and you don't get enough Story to appreciate depth. Short stories should be read in one sitting, and a great novel urges you to read another chapter and another. I must get to the chair.

     I like to have several very different books going at once. Mood selects what I read every night. Currently, I am working my way through a "complete" collection of Dashiell Hammett's short stories, including his Nameless Detective, the famous Continental Op. A researcher at the University of Texas Austin, which holds Dash Hammett's papers, recently discovered a handful of short stories under a previously unattributed Hammett pen-name, so maybe they aren't all in there. A thick book.

     When writers can write more stories than the market can bear or they want to write stories considerably off their known output or genre, writers change the author name, their "brand," for that separate series of stories. Compare Stephen King and Richard Bachman, John Swithen and Beryl Evans. I write my fiction as Michael Chandos. I'll explain why in the next blog.

     Dangerous Visions is a stellar collection of science fiction short fiction chosen by Harlan Ellison. His selection criteria demanded an excellently written story that meant something, that said something to the reader. These are stories that demand a reading venue other than the pillow. There are two subsequent volumes. I consider them graduate-level education.

     Starship Century presents concepts for spaceship design, propulsion technologies, and destinations for interstellar travel written by two well-known scientists that also publish fiction. It's not as technical as other books I have on the subject, but the concepts are deep and are not pillow fodder.

     Write Like Hemingway is an examination of Hemingway's writing style learned while he was a newspaper columnist for the Kansas City Star. He was assigned to major stories, but newspaper space was limited, so he learned to write without fluff, with exact words and precision. Good lessons for current-day fiction writers like me.

     Marksman is a collection of private eye stories from the 1930s Black Mask and similar "penny-a-word" markets. Not deep, but they are fully realized stories, with action and technicolor characters. My stories are, I hope, more like Ellison's, but there are lessons to learn here, too.

     Read with a purpose, read for fun always, mix it up a little, enjoy the buffet!

My short take on the short story

 Once again, I have been very remiss with my posts on Type M. There is so much rapid-fire news and chaos in Canada, the US, and the world that I am continuously distracted. And when I can tear myself away from that, there's always taxes to complete.

But in moments between these distractions, I have two short stories to write. Although earlier in my career, I have written over thirty short stories for various publications, I haven't written one in ten years and I am very rusty. But in the past couple of months, I've been invited to submit to two separate anthologies, so have been sharpening up my pencil. Literally, since I write first drafts by hand.

While scrubbing the rust off, I reminded myself of several guidelines that helped me in the past. I'm not a big believer in rules or "how-to" guidelines. In writing, everything is possible and what works for one person or one story won't work for another. That said, I offer the following "rules". Many of them are quite effective for novels as well.

First, a short story has to be tight and focussed. No wandering off into subplots or meandering flashbacks. You have to create a vivid, powerful story in a very few words so it's important to make each word and each paragraph count. You have to capture the crucial three pillars of a story – setting, character, and storyline –  in a few vivid pen strokes. To help keep the story focussed and tight, I prefer to have the whole story unfold in the same one or two settings in a short space of time. Not three months, sometimes only an hour. I keep characters to a minimum; only those that have to be there to tell the story.  I try to keep pure, static description to a minimum. Combine description with action that propels the story forward, and capture both character and setting in a few vivid, crucial words rather than detail. E.g., colour or style of hair is not important in itself; make it reveal character.

Luckily a lot of the overwriting can be fixed in rewrites. Be ruthless with the editing pen. Do I really need that word or sentence? Is there a single word that conveys the same thing with more punch? What is harder to fix is an overly complicated plot. I've found short stories don't lend themselves to the classic whodunnit structure. There isn't time to have a sleuth running around uncovering clues, following red herrings, and juggling suspects. There are too many characters and it's very difficult to make them distinct and vivid enough to engage the reader. In the hands of a very skilled short story writer, it's possible, but the result can feel emotionally flat and contrived. Most of my short stories have a whodunit element, but often there's also a thriller element too.

When I write novels, I'm mostly a pantser. The story evolves as I write it. But I find with a short story, I need to know the outcome and the basic premise before I start. If I start writing without knowing where I plan to end up, the writing is exploratory and unfocussed until I get an ah-ha moment and can settle down to serious writing. The process is still organic in that I discover things about the character or add in some extra twists and conflict as I go along, but I'm writing towards the goal. 

Here's one last observation. POV is very important to any story. I find a story (or scene) is more powerful and more engaging when the reader is drawn into a character's head.  Head-hopping distances the reader from the acton. In my novels, I often have several POVs but never within the same scene. In a short story, I find a single POV works best. It keeps me focussed and working forward. It allows for internal monologue and perspective. It can be first person or third person, whatever works for that story.

So far I have managed to write one of the two short stories and am working on the second, due next month. Once I get feedback from the editors, I'll have a better idea whether my technique for writing a short story worked, or whether I have to get out the rust remover again.

Left Coast Crime 2025

by Catherine Dilts

Even an introvert can have fun in a large group of people, if it’s the right crowd. I stepped out of turtle mode, poking my head out of my shell to attend Left Coast Crime in Denver. My experiences began early Thursday, March 13.

Lee and Leslie Blatt hosted 40 authors at 20 tables for the Author Speed Dating event. I teamed up with Jeff Schmoyer, author of the Snack Sized Mysteries. Two writers pitch their books to a table full of readers. Each is given two minutes to convince people their writing is fabulous. Then you scramble over to the next table. Although I was dreading it, the event was wild, noisy, and actually fun. The clanging of the cowbell left no doubt when your two minutes expired.

Author Speed Dating at Left Coast Crime 2025

After surviving Author Speed Dating, I dove into panels. It was less stressful being on the receiving end of the entertainment. The only problem was, deciding which to attend. A couple times, there were panels I wanted to see in the same time slot.

This was when my writing partner and I would divide and conquer, going to different panels and sharing notes later. Allow me to introduce my co-author and daughter, Merida Bass. We’re working on two projects together, in addition to our individual books and art.

At the Friday breakfast, author Mike Befeler hosted Meet the New Authors. While the audience enjoyed the buffet offerings and coffee – don’t forget the coffee – Mike introduced writers and their brand new books. I enjoyed hearing my former carpool buddy Maria Kelson chat up her debut novel.

At dinner Friday, I was delighted to meet up with fellow Encircle Publications authors. We talked business and future projects. Each is a multi-published and accomplished writer. Mike Befeler has written twenty-five novels, beginning with his Paul Jacobson geezer lit series. BJ Magnani is the author of a four book Dr. Lily Robinson series, using her expertise as a toxicologist and pathologist. CM Wendelboe is a retired deputy and Marine, and the author of over twenty books, including several Western series.

CM Wendelboe, Mike Befeler, me, and BJ Magnani

Participating in events was only part of what made Left Coast Crime a valuable experience. The conference was an opportunity to catch up with other authors, and to meet readers and librarians. It wasn’t all work and no play. Friday evening, the Sisters in Crime carnival was a blast!

Catherine Dilts, Ellen Covairt, and Merida Bass

Saturday, I was on the panel Mysteries with Animals. Although there are animals in almost all my stories, I haven’t written any turtles into my tales. Yet. We had a lively discussion of dogs versus cats.

Moderator Misti Berry, Nancy Coco, Darlene Dziomba, J. C. Eaton, and me

At the Saturday night banquet, I teamed up again with Jeff and author and editor Deborah Brewer. We were surprised to discover two other authors had been assigned to the same table. Not quite what we expected, but we enjoyed handing out swag and talking fiction.

Deborah Brewer, Jeff Schmoyer, Merida Bass at banquet

 
A surprise of the very nice variety was when fellow Type M for Murder blogger and accomplished author Charlotte Hinger sat next to me. She had just learned she was up for a Spur Award from Western Writers of America! Charlotte is a finalist in the Best Western Contemporary Novel category for her book, Mary’s Place, published by Bison Books/University of Nebraska Press.

Charlotte Hinger and Catherine Dilts

The banquet room was, as is typical at these sorts of events, very noisy. I couldn’t hear most of the speakers, although some were quite strident. My turtle self had a bit of a meltdown, so I left early, retreating to my room and retracting back into my shell. I had maxed out my turtle coping abilities.

Left Coast Crime was an intense, fun, inspiring long weekend. Now I am content to crawl back inside my shell until the next professional or social event. Turtle Power!

On the Pulse of Things

 Like any serious writer, I read a lot. The latest from my TBR pile are mysteries by two of my favorite authors, The Big Empty by Robert Crais, and Tell Me What You Did by Carter Wilson. Both novels lean into themes resonating in pop culture: wildly successful young female social media influencers and serial killers. Another similarity between the books is the design aesthetic of the covers: burnt orange fading into an abrupt dark foreground, each black space presenting a relevant element to draw you further in. The curve of highway in The Big Empty, alluding to movement and isolation amid urban clutter, and in Tell Me What You Did, the voyeuristic allure of a woman's silhouette framed within a yellow window. From those junctures, however, the stories differ quite a bit. 

Wilson's forte is the psychological thriller and he masterfully plucks at the narrative, driving the momentum with staccato beats that tighten the suspense with each new reveal. The protagonist, famous podcaster Poe Webb, is no angel and has plenty of skeletons in her closet, which the serial killer is keen to exploit. The ambiance is claustrophobic, and the mood stifling with menace and dread.

Crais delivers another episode in the exploits of Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, two PIs digging into intrigue and murder in the sweeping landscape of Los Angeles. In this quest, the influencer is the MacGuffin who draws Cole into the crosshairs of the serial killer. The plot unravels as a good noir mystery should, through the eyes of the detective as he peels back each rotten layer of lies and misdirection. There's much that I admire about Crais' writing: his sharp turns of phrase, his ability to present characters as they collide egos, his concise descriptions of time and place that put you right in the scene.

 

So Meta Stole Our Stories

On a typical tropical day in Guam beneath a shelter

I woke up this morning and saw my Facebook feed full of outrage about how The Atlantic created a new searchable database that allows authors to see if their books were used by Meta to train their AI. Here's how it worked. 

Authors and publishers uploaded their e-books to places like Amazon. Piracy sites (sometimes called mirror sites) stole these books and articles by either scanning the books and creating PDF versions or by stripping their codes and "recreating" the books which they could then sell to customers who were attracted by the low-cost or free books.

Meta, apparently, used these pirated versions of a magnitude of books and articles to train their AI. 7.5 MILLION books! 

Piracy of this sort is not new. Some of these book outfits (often overseas) are huge. When one gets taken down, another springs up to take its place. It's a massive problem. 

Or is it?

In a way, yes. Of course it is illegal as all get out, and authors feel cheated because someone stole their work, is selling it for cheap, and keeping the profit for themselves. That sucks. On the other hand--and please don't hate me for saying this--the people who are using pirate sites to get cheaper books were probably NOT going to purchase our books for the full price on Amazon or anywhere else. 

In other words, the piracy sites aren't stealing money that would have definitely gone into our pockets. but they ARE making money with our content, content they haven't spent countless hours creating, crafting, honing, sweating over. And that makes me mad. It's cheating. Kind of like big corporations cheat on their taxes while the rest of us have to pay ours. Both big corps and piracy sites are gaming the system and profiting while the rest of us stand helplessly by, do our work, accept with gratitude when we are paid, and pay what's demanded of us. 

The Author's Guild wrote an article about this and shared the searchable database link. You can find it at this LINK. 

Of course I jumped on to search my name, and sure enough, my second Olivia Lively title was listed. Honestly? I would have been more upset if I hadn't been included! 

However, piracy in low-wage countries preying on us is one thing. Having one of our own companies, in this case Meta, steal from us is a major betrayal! Our American economic and judicial and infrastructure system has allowed Meta to become the multi-billion dollar company it is. And this is how it repays our creatives? Our writers? With a total lack of respect for the people who,along with other artists, create the cultural wealth of our society. 

All this pounds into my brain, once again, that the time for ditching social media was yesterday. It's time for us to stop relying on Meta and other platforms for free promotion in exchange for our attention and our souls. I'm trying to figure out how to do this. I've been spending less time on Facebook, but I'm reluctant to give up my account because in some ways the author page, at least, works as kind of a Yellow Pages entry. 

On the other hand, how can we justify our continued support  of a broligarch who, according to a new book that just came out from whistleblower Sarah Whynn-Williams--Careless People: A cautionary tale of power, greed, and lost idealism--actually agreed/offered to collude with the Chinese Communist Government to spy on and report on people? Not to mention disinformation campaigns. And some sexual harassment stuff if what I heard on a podcast is to be believed. 

Of course, Meta went to court to try to block the author from promoting her book, which of course led to... SO MANY MORE SALES. Haha. Here is a link to an article. LINK

So that's two strikes against Meta in one week. Is it time to ditch it once and for all? 

-----

Shelley's most recent Pink Dandelions newsletter went out today. In it find an essay on designating and designing your own Creative Sanctuaries--both physical and mental/psychological--in these weird, chaotic, and noisy times. See The Creative Sanctuary. 

 

 

Clues

I'm beginning to see a light a the end of the tunnel with my WIP. I've finally determined on a route to take to the end that pleases me, and I've come up with a couple of twists I like. Now all I have to do is persevere. It's grunt work, now. Sit and type it out, find the right word, the right sentence.

One technical detail every mystery writer has to deal with is how to dole out the clues. You want to lead your reader on, like scattering bread crumbs through the forest. You want to play fair with your reader, and give her all the information she needs to be able to solve the mystery along with the sleuth. Yet you want to keep her guessing. It's a bit of a problem, and it takes some skill to know just how much information is enough without being too much.

It's easy enough to determine how often you should drop a clue. Be sparing with clues early in the story, then as you get near the end, the clues should come faster. But which piece of information to reveal? Start out with general discoveries, and become more and more specific as the story goes on. When do we reveal that the killer had to have entered through the basement window, therefore Suspect A is far too large? How soon should the reader know the victim had a clandestine affair with Suspect B's wife 25 years earlier? When do you drop the final bit of information that makes it possible to solve the mystery?

Savvy mystery readers are hard to fool. How do I lead him astray while giving him all the right clues? He knows the killer is seldom the most likely suspect, nor is the killer often a recurring character in a series. Should I therefore surprise him and have my killer be the most likely suspect or a series regular?

Lovers of mystery novels know all the common mystery writer tricks. The mystery writer knows they know. I quite enjoy trying to anticipate what the reader is going to think, and to write in little twists and turns to play with the reader's mind. 

Whether I can pull it off or not is another story.

National Craft Month

 by Sybil Johnson

March is National Craft Month. I don’t know who decides these things. Probably a committee somewhere. March is my birth month and I love crafts so I think I’ll just go with it.

Over the years, I’ve tried my hand at a lot of crafts: embroidery, paint-by-number, macramé, scrapbooking, crocheting, knitting, tole/decorative painting... Many of these I still do. The one I’ve spent the most time on is tole/decorative painting (NOT paint-by-number). That’s one reason I decided to feature it in my Aurora Anderson mysteries.

I admit, though, that recently I’ve been stepping out on decorative painting a bit. It’s all the fault of Facebook ads for the Woobles crochet kits. I’d never heard of amigurumi until I saw these ads. That’s the Japanese art of crocheting small stuffed creatures. I think you can also use the term for knitted stuffies, but I’m just focusing on crocheting.

I tried crocheting once when I was a kid many, many, many, many years ago. I never really got into it. But these Woobles were so cute! They promised step-by-step videos and patterns. The kits included everything you need. I bought one. It did not disappoint. Then another. Then an explosion occurred with Wooble kits everywhere. Then I branched out to other amigurumi patterns and kits. I’ve given some as gifts. Here’s the ones I’ve kept for myself:

 

I still have a lot of painting projects to do, but it’s been fun to do something else for a bit.

My mother started me on my crafting journey by teaching me how to embroider. A friend at work taught a bunch of us at lunchtime to do decorative painting. We enjoyed sharing time together doing an activity we found fun.

I suspect that’s one reason why there are so many mysteries featuring crafts. People have fond memories of knitting, painting, etc. together. It’s real life. Except for the murder, of course.

I’ve read a lot of these types of mysteries over the years. Some of my favorites are: The Vampire Knitting Club series by Nancy Warren, The Fairy Garden mysteries by Daryl Wood Gerber, the Miniature Mysteries by Camille Minichino and the Candlemaking mysteries by Tim Myers. I particularly like the relationship between the main character and her granddaughter in the Miniature mysteries.

I plan on celebrating National Craft Month by reading craft-based mysteries, working on some painting and crocheting projects and maybe starting on a macramé one. How about you?

Boggled Conference

 by Charlotte Hinger

The recent Left Coast Crime Conference wasn't boggled. I messed up my planning.

The conference was great. There were outstanding panels and I'm always surprised by the friendliness of the whole writer community. 

Here's where I went wrong: I dithered about attending in the first place. The conference was in Denver and I live in Fort Collins and it seemed silly to ignore a conference that was so close. But conferences are expensive and I was reluctant to spend the money. It's not a good idea to run back and forth between FOCO and Denver every day. It's better to stay in the conference hotel. 

But by the time I decided to go, hotel reservations were closed at the conference rate. No problem, I thought. I'll book a hotel nearby. Wrong!!! There was a major problem. A third party reservation system (Reservations.com) highjacked the website and I ended up with a reservation in Thornton Colorado. Rather than finding parking close to the Westin, I relied on Uber. At least it was just for one night. 

I caught a break. The price of Westin's regular rate dropped. And the hotel had on-site parking. At a price, of course. A really wicked price. But I ended up at the conference hotel for the remaining two nights. The rooms were lovely and it's very restful to have a retreat from all the activity. 

Nevertheless, I should have made up my mind far enough in advance to participate on panels and volunteer for the various tasks required for organization. At the very minimum I should have had books there. 

It was great to reconnect with friends and listen to fine mystery writers talk about their craft. Conferences are always inspirational. At the beginning is a photo of myself and a fellow Type M'er, Catherine Dilts who sponsored a table at the Lefty Awards banquet. Above this paragraph is photo of our fellow diners admiring the favors included with our place settings.

The Colorado chapters of Sisters In Crime did an outstanding job of promoting the organization. They had a carnival night with a lot of games and photo opportunities. 

I've learned from this experience. Next time I'll plan far in advance.

How I do I sell this thing?

    Stephen King can spend a few days writing a short story and sell it for $10,000 as the lead-off story in an anthology. His name and reputation have serious curb appeal.

    I can't. I am paid from the profits from the published anthology, split between 12 to 24 contributing authors. Quarterly. I'm lucky to make more than $50. 

    For all the famous writers on the best seller lists, there are hundreds that just made $50. The magazines, the few that remain in paper, and the digital monthlies that come and go, pay more to their Regulars, but it'll seldom pay the rent.

    This sounds like I'm about to complain about per/word compensation or to cry about poor, starving short fiction writers. I'm not, nor am I going to wax poetic about Why I Write. I'm in a practical mood since I have two short stories about to gestate, one noir mystery, one yound adult SciFi. When the stories approach the editing plateau of diminishing returns, what am I going to do with them? Who buys this stuff?

    The magazines have a process, a specific process about format and content. The better ones tell you what they Don't want (excessive violence, sex, politics, true crime or sword and sorcery) and they try to tell you what they Do want - altho often in general terms like Coming of Age, or "Funny". They list their rules and wants on their websites under "Submissions".

    Anthologies are often built around a Theme, a word or short statement the editor hopes writers will build their story around. You might see Dieselpunk, military, What Lies Beneath, the Decade of the 60's, or Teenagers on Mars. I've sold almost a dozen mystery and SF to theme anthologies. They were fun to write and they made me the usual $50 each. One anthology that received several award nominations still resulted just in that $50 bill.

    Submissions are announced in one of two ways: in marketing lists and by word of mouth. Many sub-genres have a web presence where editors announce the anthology, what they are looking for etc, and the opening and closing dates for submissions. Horror, Splatterpunk, True Crime, 1890's mysteries, Steampunk, romantic suspense, historical mysteries, New England mysteries. Genre specific lists present genre submission openings, from amateur, to semi-pro, to pro. Ralan lists speculative fiction across a broad spectrum of classical SF, New Age and juvenile. They list a web spot for more info, length limits, possible pay. Duotrope lists short and longer fiction market openings, some non-fiction too, I think. The paid version of Duotrope includes considerable marketing information, like similar markets to consider, and a submissions tracker.

    Word of mouth is generally very genre-specific. You can catch word of an opening on message blogs like the Short Mystery Fiction Society, horror groups, writer's blogs, Facebook.  Too often, editors solicit privately. I've never seen an announcement for the many NOIR Mystery volumes, for example. Editors develop their reliable favorites too. Sometimes the resulting anthology was a co-development between the editor, the publishers and writers, and no announcement was ever intended. To be successful, you learn how to search for possible markets.

    So you submit - - and then you wait. Many calls for submissions will result in a hundred or more 15 to 25 page stories, and a small reading group will take months to read and vote on the submissions. Sometimes the editor will reject your story quickly if your story Is Not what they were looking for. Rejections can be harsh, but sometimes they can say "I liked your story but I already accepted another with a similar plot". The best rejection asks you to submit again to a future call.

    

    Magic happens, and your story is accepted. You receive edits from the editor for you to process. You might sign a contract via DocuSign. And, then?  You wait some more.

    

    Short fiction, novels too, take a long time to finally make it into print. I had a story that finally showed up last December that I have been writing and rewriting for Years. How you are paid may depend on the publishing date. Some short fiction markets pay on acceptance. Most pay on publication. Many pay on profit distribution in a future calendar quarter. Nope, not going to pay the rent that.

    But, that's not why I write short fiction, which is a different blog.

Gearing Up for Left Coast Crime 2025

Catherine Dilts

At some point, even a determinedly introverted turtle has to poke her head out of her shell. This is the year for me. I’m attending Left Coast Crime in Denver. I realized this morning with some alarm that the conference begins this Thursday! Yikes!

(Photo of turtle with head retracted inside shell.)

I’m even participating in events. Early Thursday morning, I’m attending Author Speed Dating, at which I’ll have to talk to over a hundred readers. Authors talk for two minutes, then move to the next table. It sounds crazy. I’m hoping the frenetic pace will keep my mind off the idea that I’m way outside my shell.

Saturday, 11:30 am to 12:15 pm, I’m on the panel Mysteries with Animals. Sharing the stage with these accomplished authors will be fun. Talking about animals in mysteries should be stress-free. There are animals in almost all my stories. Oddly enough, I haven’t written any turtles into my tales. I also love reading stories featuring animals, such as all the great cat cozy mysteries.

Saturday night, I’m hosting a table at the awards banquet. I will poke my head out of my shell to converse with readers who are sitting at my table because they’re interested in my fiction.

I won’t be de-shelling alone. My daughter is attending her first LCC. She’ll be attending panels of interest to her writing, which is geared toward younger readers. And I’ll be teamed at Author Speed Dating with Jeff Schmoyer, and sharing the banquet table with Jeff and his wife, author and editor Deborah Brewer. Friends and family might be an adequate substitute for plates of turtle shell?

This should be an intense, fun, inspiring long weekend. I’ll turtle on through the introvert stress, knowing I can crawl back inside my shell until the next professional or social event. Turtle Power!

 

Emily's Book

  By Thomas Kies

This past Sunday, I was both proud and delighted to attend the book launch for Emily Dunlop Carter.  The book, entitled A Spork in the Road, is a collection of essays that are touching, humorous, and thought provoking. Emily has her own blog called www.achicksview.com.  She was also once a member of my creative writing class and continues to be a good friend.

Another set of friends, Autumn Ware, her husband, Jack Ware, and Marjorie Peltier, founders EPIC Carteret Books, an imprint of Planck Length Publishing, are publishing the book.  Both Autumn and Marjorie are former members of my creative writing classes. 

I wrote one of the blurbs promoting her as a writer on the back cover of her book that goes, “Reading Emily’s work is like spending time with a lifelong friend who shows you life through fresh eyes on a warm summer day. Her stories are clever, moving, often laugh-out-loud funny, and always filled with love. She’s a butterfly that lands on the back of your hand—beautiful, graceful, and filled with childlike wonder.”

At her event, Emily read a series of her essays and her husband, John, also known as the Smokin’ Hot Love Biscuit, performed songs.  Combined with champagne, scones, and cupcakes, it was a delightful afternoon shared with about fifty people in Beaufort, North Carolina.

The event was actually a pre-launch celebration.  Once the book is available, I'll let you know how to order it. Or you can go to Emily's Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/emily.d.carter.1.

The point of this particular blog isn’t just to promote Emily’s new book.  It’s to say how you never know how things will turn out.  Emily, Autumn, and Marjorie were all part of my creative writing class.  Most of the members of the Carteret Writers Organization were part of my creative writing class. And that group continues to grow.

At the beginning of my first class, I always tell everyone that I don’t grade.  How I measure success is if, once you’ve taken the class, you continue to write. 

I love writing.  I love when people read what I write.  But I also love being able to have an effect and be part of a community of writers. Seeing them succeed is damned gratifying and I can’t be any prouder. 

 

Frame It Up: Experiments in Short Story Structure

 

By Shelley Burbank

Cliff overhanging Gun Beach, Tumon Bay, Guam

I drafted a short story last summer when I was in Maine. I wanted to write a short crime narrative about my female private investigator character, Olivia Lively. Because I was visiting at a home with no internet, I drafted the story by hand on yellow paper. The solstice inspired me to use June's full moon as part of the setting, and the title Strawberry Moon Mystery seemed perfect.

It took me three tries over the course of a day and night, but I finished the draft at 3 a.m. A few days later, I went back to California where I began to transcribe it into a Google doc. However, I failed to get it all typed up before I came back to Maine and then on to Guam. I figured once I got settled, I'd finish typing it and then work on revising and polishing and maybe even submit it somewhere. (Or offer it as a lead magnet to find new readers for my two books.)

I'm excited about this one because I wrote Strawberry Moon as a frame story. 

***

When taking photos, it's sometimes fun to create a "frame" in the foreground in order to highlight something in the background. This creates interest in the whole, as in the above photo I took on Gun Beach. The overhanging cliff hovers over the dimpled sand while framing the blue-green seawater and dark rocks beyond. 

Stories are structured in many different ways, and we writers like to experiment with various plot devices and structures. One of my favorites is the "frame narrative." 

You are probably most familiar with frame narratives in classic literature. The Canterbury Tales collects 24 different stories under one umbrella, or frame, story: Travelling companions amusing each other by telling stories along the way. The Thousand and One Nights is another collection set in one frame. 

Sometimes the frame contains just one story, or perhaps even a story that frames a third story. (I'm giddy just thinking about it!) 

I've experimented with frame stories a few times. Once, I wrote a lengthy short story for a class I was auditing at the University of Maine. The class was Native American & Immigrant Literature and was taught by Rhea Cote Robbins. I wrote about a modern-day character who is told a story by an elder. Within that story was another story. It was complex and probably a little clunky, but I received positive comments from the instructor and like to think there's some good material in there. I'll revisit it someday as I think it would make a good "novel in stories" like Alice Hoffman's The Red Garden.

A second frame-writing adventure wasn't planned. I inadvertently used a frame when I drafted a novel with a very dramatic opening scene which set up the conflict for the main character. I then decided the events leading up to that moment were important enough to include in the narrative. I had a choice: weave in backstory in dribs and drabs or, in the next chapter, go back in time to tell the story chronologically until the events led up to the original scene--which really was the inciting incident for my character's developmental arc and thus the best place to start--and then continue on to the end. 

I did it, but I was never totally happy with it. 

On a second draft, I tried writing the book beginning to end chronologically, but it transformed the story into a different genre, from women's fiction to romance. That's not what I wanted. I wanted the story to be about my heroine's journey, her challenges and growth, not focused on the romantic relationship even though that relationship incited the change she was forced to make in order to thrive. 

No one ever said writing was easy. Stories are puzzles. All the pieces have to fit, and fitting works best when you build in the right order. Figuring out the right order, now, that's the real challenge. 

***

This brings me to the drafting of Strawberry Moon Mystery, the short story I wrote on yellow paper in Maine. Here, Liv goes to a party to celebrate the publication of her client's latest novel and the successful defense of her authorship following a plagiarism claim. Trouble is, Liv felt something was off even though she investigated for the defense. The end brings the missing pieces to light. In the middle, though, I tell the story of her investigation in chronological order from initial client meeting to final report and settling of the claim. 

Now, I could revise and start at that beginning when Liv is approached to do background investigation for the client, make my way to the night of the party, and get to that ending payout scene. But I kind of like the frame. The opening scene of the party being held at a Victorian "cottage" on the coast of Maine, a full Strawberry Moon rising over the sea, and Liv's queasy feeling that something isn't quite right makes me happy. 

I'm hoping it piques the reader's interest, as well. 

However--plot twist--somewhere in between San Diego and Maine and Guam I've misplaced my handwritten draft! Remember, I never did get the whole thing transcribed. I can sort of remember the basics, but I've lost the details. 

Will this author be able to finish her piece? Stay tuned for updates. 

Comfort Reading, Writing and Viewing

 by Sybil Johnson

I recently had a discussion with someone about what kinds of shows and movies brought comfort. Hallmark movies were at the top of their list. While I do enjoy many Hallmark movies (not all alike, btw), my go-to when the world is getting me down is...serial killer documentaries. Don’t know why this is. It probably says loads about me psychologically. Not sure I want anyone to analyze that!

I also find comfort in old episodes of Dark Shadows, baking competition shows and documentaries on ancient history, especially Ancient Egypt. A particular favorite that gives me great comfort is “A Caribbean Mystery”, the version with Helen Hayes as Miss Marple. Also, I adore "Kong: Skull Island'.

In terms of reading, I lean towards cozies, particularly series I’ve read before. I find great comfort in familiar settings and characters. Nonfiction is also a go-to for me as long as it’s not about current events. I lean toward books on history and linguistics.

Writing can also be a comforting activity, particularly writing fiction. I think this is because, as the writer, I have control over every aspect of the story. 

What books and TV shows/movies bring you comfort? Do you find writing comforting:

#

In other news, I got to participate in an event at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena, CA for “Angel City Beat”, the Sisters in Crime/LA anthology that I have a story in. It was hosted by the wonderful Naomi Hirahara. She did a great job. Fun was had by all. Here are the authors who were able to attend. 

 

The Smerchek Museum

By Charlotte Hinger

A  while back Michael Chandos broke my heart with his account of determining what to do with his grandfather's war memorabilia. I am so nostalgic about historical artifacts that I nearly volunteered to store them myself. 

I'm sorting through family stuff. My mother's side of the family is Czechoslovakian. Originally from Moravia. We have information going back to the 1700s although my grandparent's generation didn't migrate until the 1800s. There is a fabulous family scrapbook that has been scanned and distributed to all the descendants.


I've taken in a lot of my family's "treasures" simply because I can't stand to throw it away. I have my grandmother's wedding dress from 1900. It is exquisite and the shoulders are about the size of an American Girl doll. I've always referred to them as the "wee Smercheks"


Aunt Helen was an artist. Above is a picture she painted that I've labeled "The Path." I do love it and hung it about my sofa. Her portrait of a farmstead is above my dining room table. It's very well done and she had a great sense of perspective.

Some time ago, I posted a photo of my great-grandmother's rocking chair. A gentleman from my church refinished it and when the mood strikes us, some of my friends are coming over to help with the webbing so I can complete the upholstery. 

The picture above is that of the seven Smerchek sons who arrived from Bohemia in the 1800s. 

Michael is right. The younger generation takes a more minimal approach. They won't be troubled by this compulsion to cling to family memorabilia. 

The Serendipity Genie

 Donis here, happy to announce that we just bought a new car. It's the first new car we've bought in 20 years. We decided we'd better do it now while the getting is good. It's a Subaru, which brand we've never before owned. I've always liked the look of Subarus, but never particularly noticed them on the road - until now, when it seems that Subarus are everywhere I look. Interesting how just paying attention changes one's reality.

Ever notice how ideas get into the ether and suddenly everyone has the same thought at once? Is it like a virus, spread by physical contact but no one knows where it first began? Or is there a more mystical source? I'm sure it's something infinitely more prosaic than Muses or an Oversoul, but what the heck, I like that idea better than just mental epidemiology.

A couple of weeks ago I decided that I could use a switch-up in my writing life and thought I'd try doing some short stories again. I say "again" because for many years, short stories and poems were all I wrote. Then when I began writing novels in the '90s, I quit writing shorter pieces altogether. When I sat down again to write my first short story in decades, I discovered that my short-form muscles need building up. If you practice the instrument for years, you're in danger of forgetting how to play. Fortunately, there seems to be some sort of muscle memory going on, and it is coming back to me.

Having tapped into that long-buried well after all this time seems to have dredged up the serendipity genie, too. Last week I dug into the chest at the end of my bed, looking for something unrelated to writing, and came across a box containing scores of sort stories I wrote over forty years ago. I had completely forgotten they existed. It took me several days to re-read them all. Many were unfinished. Most were pleasant diversions. Some were embarrassing. A few were surprisingly good. But what impressed me most about all these stories is that I never tried to get any of them published. I had written every one of them for the sheer joy of it, with no thought of monetary reward. 

It's like Virginia Woolfe said: "Writing is like sex. First you do it for love; then you do it for your friends; finally you do it for money."

In praise of launches

 In the past two weeks, I released SHIPWRECKED SOULS, my latest Inspector Green mystery, with two launches, one in Toronto and one in Ottawa. I have been doing launches for my books, sometimes alone and sometimes with another writer, for over twenty-five years, and I have never tired of them. The, launches serve four purposes.

First, they are a reward to myself,  the culmination of all the hard, lonely work that comes with writing a novel. Secondly, they are a marketing tool. As I described in a previous post on Type M, I promote the launch on my social media platforms for a few weeks before the event. In my case, that's Facebook and Instagram, both of which are public. I use those two platforms because I am too long in the tooth to get excited about TikTok and Threads and other newer platforms, because I have built up a friendship base on them over the years, and thirdly, I believe the people who might enjoy my books tend to use those platforms. This may be a wrong assumption, based on the fact I find them alien and annoying, but a writer can only do so many things. 

As the launch dates approach, I also send out specific invites to my email contacts and to my Facebook friends via the Facebook event feature. Unfortunately the Facebook invites are sent to Facebook Messenger, which not everyone actually looks at. But you do what you can. The purpose of doing all this launch promotion is not just to invite people to the party but also to announce the publication of the book.

At the Ottawa launch, Robin Harlick interviewed me. 

The third reason I have launches is to give me a chance to meet readers. It's wonderful to see old friends, family, and devoted readers who have become friends. Everyone is united in their affection for Inspector Green, and that's a very heartwarming feeling. In our darkest hours, writers often wonder why we do this job, and this reminds us. Readers buoy us up.

The fourth, and least important, reason for holding a launch is to sell books. I'm a traditionally published author; I don't make much money on each sale, so the amount I actually take home is fairly small. But it builds my relationship with the bookseller, in this case Perfect Books, and supports their store. 

The Toronto and Ottawa launches are different. I live in Ottawa and the Inspector Green series is set here. I have lots of friends and family here as well as readers, so I make it a real party. This year, after years of online events due to Covid, I booked a pub (Irene's Pub, which is very supportive of the arts), ordered some food platters, and arranged for a friend's band to play soft background jazz. There's always a few moments of panic beforehand. What if I throw a party and no one comes? It's a leap of faith that always seems to work out.

Toronto launch

Toronto is a more challenging market. The city is bigger and getting around it is difficult, I haven't as many contacts there, and if I  booked a pub in this case it might well be "what if I threw a party and no one came?" There's nothing more demoralizing than an empty party room. However, Toronto does have a wonderful mystery bookstore, Sleuth of Baker Street, which is very supportive of authors and author events. It's a smaller, more intimate setting surrounding by shelves of books, and it allows for an informal gathering of friends. 

In both these launches, I am so appreciative of the readers and friends who do come to celebrate with me. Being an introvert, I don't throw a lot of parties, but these launches are highlights! 

Balance

Catherine Dilts

When I retired from the corporate office job recently, I envisioned sitting at my computer for eight hours a day, churning out fiction manuscripts at a frenetic pace.

Even though I knew better.

During my day job years, I wrote some of my published stories in fifteen-minute increments with time seized out of a busy schedule. Like many writers, the flashes of brilliance I had during work hours had to be jotted down surreptitiously, for later development. Not exactly satisfying, this process felt like piecing together scraps to make a quilt.

When off the clock, I might have the luxury of six to eight hours to focus on a project. A few writing marathons went even longer. I wrote on Sundays, and even used holidays to write fiction. I participated in NaNoWriMo several times. To get 50,000 words slammed down in a month, you have to plant your rear on a chair and work long hours.

When I went to my doctor with a shoulder complaint a few years ago, I did the math. Between the day job and writing fiction, I was frequently at the computer twelve hours a day. Not every day. But often enough. That kind of workload is not sustainable. Physically. Excessively long writing sessions resulted in a couple stints with physical therapy.

When I no longer had a day job whittling away my time, I slid to the opposite extreme a few times. Briefly. I am at heart a workaholic. These forays into slackerdom didn’t last long.

Realizing I can go to either extreme, I keep a timesheet for my writing. And a fitness schedule for my walking and running. Both need to happen, or else everything starts to break down. Both require consistency. Both work and fitness activities also require breaks. Recovery days.

Saturday the weather finally cleared up enough for an outdoor walk. My husband and I enjoyed the fresh air, sunshine, and birds. The small brown birds were chirping with delight to bask in warm sun after a long cold spell. I almost felt like chirping, too.

Taking breaks from writing is necessary. Breaks offer a refreshing change of pace that often inspires a new story. On the flip side, inspiration is nothing without work to give it form. It’s all about balancing work and play, diligence and rest.

How do you balance the demands and delights in your life?

Real-life Breaking Bad

We love our crime stories but at a distance. Criminals are fascinating as long as they get no closer than Netflix, a podcast, or the pages of a book. Then life brings the crime up close and personal. 

My sister Sylvia and her spouse Janet were in Las Cruces, NM, visiting my 83-yo aunt Angelica. When returning to my aunt's home after completing mid-morning errands they saw that her car had been stolen. The fact it was missing was the first clue, then the evidence of broken glass, unusual tire prints on the lawn, and skid marks on the driveway. Sylvia immediately called the police. Astonishingly, within a half-hour, the car was found, missing its license plates and coated with black paint so fresh it was still wet. Six police cars and a K9 unit converged at the Coachlight Inn Motel and RV Park near I-10 and Motel Blvd. To see what kind of a place it is, check out the Yelp reviews. The motel is a hangout for criminals and drug trafficking and so the cops get kudos for connecting the dots in a hurry.

My aunt lives in the house on Kay Lane she had inherited from my parents. I lived there from the time I was ten and until I graduated from college. We lived at that address because an outbreak of meningitis in my old neighborhood had killed several children and left my sister mentally disabled. When my mother noticed that the victims were all Mexican, she insisted that we move to the white part of town because the government would have never allowed such a disease to rage through the Caucasian community. At the time, the neighborhood was middle-class, a lot of government workers and contractors. A neighbor up the street was a lawyer who drove a big shiny Cadillac. 

Now the area looks like Detroit in the desert. Plenty of broken windows covered with cardboard or scraps of plywood. Abandoned appliances. When the neighborhood was first designed in the early 1960s, grassy lawns and mulberry trees were the norm. To conserve water, the city now insists on xeriscaping, which means the forlorn lots are surrounded by dusty patches. 

Attracted by the commotion at my aunt's house, neighbors told my sister that the vicinity is known as a "weed and seed," a local colloquialism meaning the area is where the city dumps people with behavioral issues--i.e., drugs and criminal acts. Thefts and break-ins are common. We suspect the thieves cased my aunt's house, targeting her car because it was an easy model to steal and seeing when she had left, jumped at the opportunity. My sister noted that the details of the crime--New Mexico, drugs, GTA, sketchy-ass lowlives operating out of a sketchy-ass motel--made the experience like an episode of Breaking Bad.

As you can expect, my aunt was shaken by the ordeal. When she saw what these crooks had done to her car--broken window, busted ignition and steering column, ransacked interior, rasquache paint job--she began to cry. Her sense of security vanished, replaced by fear and paranoia. She can't simply move away. Selling the house in that depressed neighborhood would be challenge, plus she got a notice from her home insurance that because of squatters, they would suspend coverage if the premises was left unoccupied. 

Yes, life is much better when crime keeps its distance.