Try Seasonal

 by Charlotte Hinger

I have a neighbor who goes all out for Halloween. Their display is enormous. I'm intrigued by the figures every year. A lot of them are motion activated. For instance this dead woman holding a dead baby begins to rock. It's hideously frightening. 

It's a funny thing how people love to be scared. Steven King has written a wealth of books that are based on the occult or issues that scare the daylights out of people. The first scary book I remember reading was Washinton Irving's Ichabod Crane. And my Halloween neighbor has an image for that.

And don't trust this bar tender. He offers you a drink when you approach, but don't risk it. Rumor has it that he's up to no good. 

If you would like to write westerns with a specialized appeal, how about this dude for your cover?

Editors love stories that are appropriate for a special event or a season. If you have one in mind, go to work. Submit to Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine or Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine right away for consideration for next year's fall issue. Yes, magazines work that far ahead. In fact, now is a good time to polish up a story for new year's Christmas issue. 

Submissions timed for a particular holiday just might tickle the editor's fancy

Voice Recording

 by Charlotte Hinger

This is going to be a really short not so sweet blog. I was asked to record my short story, Lizzie Noel, and I thought that would be a very simple process. 

Ha!

It would have been simple if I knew what I was doing. However, as usual I naively assumed it was a piece of cake. 

To begin with, I decided that the best approach would be to use the Voice Memo app on my iPhone. This entailed figuring out how to stop, resume, edit and improve the recording. 

My biggest problem was my voice. I sounded terrible. I have chronic allergies and sounded like a feeble frog. On top of that, since I don't regularly read aloud, my voice and breathing was irregular and breathy. I stumbled over simple words and repeated them. I used to be a good oral reader. What happened?

I think it was a case of use it or lose it. My neighbor who is a broadcast journalism advised me to drink lots of water, and a tea labeled Throat Coat. Those suggestions helped. I also dashed off to Best Buy and brought a mic that plugged into my iPhone that improved the sound quality. 

After I mailed off the recorded story to Ellery Queen I discovered there was a better system on my computer. Wow!

I wish I had done a better job. I'm going to start regularly reading aloud so I won't be caught off guard if I have another opportunity. 

It's embarrassing how many times I deleted the recording and started over before I learn that sections could be replaced.

Lizzie Noel

 by Charlotte Hinger

My short story, "Lizzie Noel," was published in the Nov/Dec issue of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. I'm absolutely thrilled to have a story in this publication, which includes such notable writers as Joyce Carol Oates. I've submitted several stories over the years. Only "The Family Rose" was accepted. Ironically, that story was later published in two anthologies, Murder on the Verandah, and Murder to Music. 

The editor, Janet Hutchings, kindly provided an excerpt of my story on the Ellery Queen website. Here it is:

Lizzie Noel
by Charlotte Hinger

The glittery little floozy burst through the door of the Overhours Cafe like she was fleeing the gates of hell. Or her pimp, more likely.

Teresa Wainright had every reason to recognize her kind immediately. But she didn’t want trouble. No telling who might come looking for this one.

She gave a final polish to a stainless-steel napkin holder and scornfully studied the little whore as she swiveled onto the nearest stool. A small woman. Eyes ringed with straying mascara. She wore hot pants and scuffy mid-thigh leather boots and a stained lacy see-through blouse that needed a few extra buttons. Brittle white-blond hair piled on top of her head. Chipped dried-blood-black nails. READ MORE

Obviously, to "READ MORE" you'll have to buy a copy of the magazine. 

A Nice Surprise

 My short story, "Lizzie Noel," will be published by Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine. I'm simply thrilled. I had a story published there many years ago--"The Family Rose"--which was subsequently picked up by two anthologies, Death on the Veranduh, and Murder to Music. 

My agent, Phyllis Westberg, wasn't very enthusiastic about "Lizzie Noel," and my husband didn't like it at all. So, I never submitted it, although I thought they were both wrong. 

Besides, Ellery Queen had turned down a couple of stories after "The Family Rose," was published. 

Last July I re-read the story and quite liked it. I always had. I sent it July 20th and it took forever for the staff to read it. When I checked on it last month, I was told they were just now getting to the July submissions. When they did, they sent the contract with the acceptance letter. 

I was elated! I had another story that I submitted yesterday. It will be interesting to see if they read this one faster because they bought another recently. No one has seen this one. Phyllis loved short stories, and everything went through the agency except for the articles I did for BlackPast.org. 

A couple of years ago Folio Literary Management bought Harold Ober Associates. Phyllis Westberg retired, and Claudia Cross is my wonderful new agent. 

This week I've been thinking about an older shelved manuscript that I believe has become more marketable. It might not be a good idea to interrupt my thinking on the mystery I'm currently writing. On the other hand, I'm finished with the first draft of the mystery, the story line is there. Perhaps I can work on the mystery in the morning and tackle the historical novel in the afternoon. The historical doesn't require any more research. It's been polished and polished. But it's too long. 

Through the marvelous tutelage I received from Barbara Peters and Annette Rogers at Poisoned Pen Press, I became a better writer. If I go through the historical novel again, I'll bet I find plenty to cut. I'll start with a global search for words ending in "ing." And about a jillion other little things that need spiffed up.

With my first ever manuscript at PPP the number of times I used the word "just" just drove Annette crazy. But I just couldn't help myself. 

I envied Barbara's outdoor bravery in her blog. I have hamstring tendonitis right now and will start physical therapy. My temperament is ideal for lying around, so I appreciated Doug Skelton's post. 

It turned out that I don't now and have never had Covid. My home test was a very faint false positive. December was a bleak month. Two friends were killed as pedestrians in separate accidents, and I have a nephew in ICU with Covid who has been intubated for about five weeks. 

Like my other Type M buddies, I'm tip-toeing a little warily into the New Year. I'm grateful for unexpected breaks and praying for families of friends who dealing with unexpected tragedies. 

Changing Seasons

Aline's post on Monday reminded me of the anticipation that I used to feel as a child at the beginning of each new school year. I am still on that calendar. Still thinking that I should trade out the appointment book that I bought in January for a new one to mark the beginning of a new academic year.  

Today, I found the garbage cart that I had requested from maintenance waiting by my office door when I got to school. Feeling a ridiculous amount of delight at the idea of tossing things out, I rushed into my office and plunged in. Tomorrow's I'll continue the process. I already can see my desk top and my overburdened bookcases are tidier. For at least a few weeks, I'll feel in control of my space. I'll know what I have and where to find it.  

In her post on Wednesday, Barbara wrote about regretting the end of summer. So do I. Not because I particularly enjoy summer. I am much more attuned to autumn -- lovely crisp days and cuddle up in blanket nights -- than to summer's heat and humidity. But when summer ends, I feel sad. I realize that my late spring resolution to finish every thing on my to-do list during my three months of vacation is not going to be fulfilled this year either. In summer -- despite my best intentions -- I find it almost impossible to stick to a schedule. I seem to spend the days being distracted by minor tasks that take up much more time than they should.

So I welcome the feeling of being back in my groove. I do better with structure. The only problem that I haven't figured out is how to add minutes to shorter autumn days.

My schedule this fall is built around my teaching schedule. I plan to drive to Toronto for Bouchercon in October. I'm on a panel there. In November, I'm going to New England Crime Bake, where I'm going to teach a master class on "Using Research to Get to the Roots of Your Book". I have a short story coming out in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine that same month. A historical featuring a new protagonist. And I have also promised myself that I will do NaNoWriMo and get the first draft of my 1939 historical thriller done.

I'm looking forward to what I hope to get done this new year -- in that magical time before the year ends and winter sets in.