Angel City Beat

 by Sybil Johnson

As many of you know I live in the Los Angeles area. We’ve been in the news lately because of the horrendous fires that have devastated parts of the area, Altadena and Pacific Palisade in particular. We live far enough away from these fires that it hasn’t been an issue for us. The only problem we had was one or two days of smoke in the air as it came down the coast. Then the winds changed and the air cleared for us. As I write this, the fires are slowly being contained, but they’re still going on. My heart goes out to everyone who has lost a home or family members in the fires.

It’s nice to be able to share some good news. My story, “Fatal Return,” is now out in Angel City Beat, a Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles anthology. Barb Goffman edited the anthology. She was really great to work with and helped me make the story better.

I’ve had other short stories published before, all online. This is the first one that’s been part of an anthology. Very excited about it.

My story takes place in a library so I had fun with the names I chose for the characters. I looked up the names of Library of Congress librarians and famous people who had some connection with libraries. Then I mixed and matched first and last names, added a few other names and it was done. Quite fun to name characters with a theme like that.

Here are the anthology details:

The City of Angels has a dark side. Hidden beneath its shiny surface are misdeeds, miscreants, and murderers. From Santa Monica’s sandy beaches to Hollywood’s glitzy streets, from Boyle Heights to Holmby Hills to the dirt trails of the San Gabriel Mountains, there are so many tales to tell. So many people on the beat. The police detectives seeking justice. The reporters seeking truth. Writers who build beats into their movies and TV shows. And people who choose violence to beat others and come out on top. Angel City Beat is an anthology of stories that show life behind the plastic smiles of the rich and famous, the desperate pleas of the overlooked, and the promises of dreams forgotten. Angel City Beat is the beat of a city told by those who love her.

Stories by: Gail Alexander, Paula Bernstein, Anne-Marie Campbell, Jenny Carless, Ken Funsten, CFA, Daryl Wood Gerber, Sybil Johnson, Norman Klein, Amy Kluck, Melinda Loomis, Kate Mooney, Nancy Cole Silverman, Meredith Taylor, and Jacquie Wilver 

Amazon: https://tinyurl.com/AmAngelCity 

BN: https://tinyurl.com/BNAngelCity 

Kobo: https://tinyurl.com/KoboAngelCity 

I’ll be participating in some events around the L.A. area. I’ll have info about that as the details are confirmed.

 

Lying

   by Steve Pease writing as Michael Chandos 

   When I was a working stage actor, and a poor film and radio actor - wait a minute - stage actors are poor too. I digress. When I was a stage actor, people asked if I was lying when on stage. I wasn't being me, I was pretending to be someone else, therefore, I was lying, they said. Writers face that too, I think.

   We can make up stuff for our stories, but it better be the truth!

   There's a saying in acting: "Acting is telling the truth under imaginary circumstances".  As Cassie Greer said in her blog "...this is the theater, where we go to have an experience and to be moved. And, unless we, the actors, tell the truth, there's no way you, the audience, will be able to experience this story at all". Substitute literature for theater, writers for actors and readers for audience, and you'll see my point.

   Not all writers agree. Arthur Conan Doyle was scrupulous with facts and history in his historical novels like "The White Company" and "Sir Nigel". He wanted to mimic the heroic tales his mother used to tell at night when dad was out drinking all the family money away. He did research on historical places and people. He filled his sketchbooks with ink drawings of armor, horses, castles and medieval village life, and carefully annotated the correct term for everything. He copied medieval language styles, antique wording and old romantic tales. It made his histories tough to read sometimes, but they were "authentic", in his opinion. His Sherlock stories were "fantasies," and truth and accuracy weren't so important. Was he lying?

   The author Chris Bohjalian wrote "Lie. Put down on paper the most interesting lies you can imagine...and then make them plausible." Dan Brown follows this maxim in "The Da Vinci Code." Harry Potter is imaginary. Is S.J. Rowling lying?  That's not the point.

   These writers took amazing stories and made them seem Real to the reader. Use imagination, spin a tale, write about places you've never been and people doing things you've never done. Great. But you MUST tell the story like it's the truth. Characters must be consistent. If your detective crawls out of the river after fighting the murderer, he will be wet until your story allows him to dry. And that will affect the events in the story. Chekhov said if you write a rifle on the wall of the house, sooner or later you have to hear it go bang. (He almost said it that way)

   Writing it Real will help the reader believe your story. When the Hero is in a life-threatening bind, they will feel the terror. And the happy ending will be happy for them too.

Launch preparations

 Here I am again, a little late and a few words short. I have been very busy juggling a few different balls, always mindful that I need to do four dog walks a day, cook, eat, and sleep. But my twelfth Inspector Green novel, SHIPWRECKED SOULS, is due to be released Tuesday January 21 and I have two launches planned -- one in Toronto and one in Ottawa. I wish I could go farther afield and celebrate its release in other major cities but an author's finances can only stretch so far!

A lot goes into a launch party, from choosing the venue, date and time, arranging for the bookseller and the venue, deciding on the format, designing promo materials like posters, and finally, spreading the word so that people actually come.

Below are the posters for both events. I am fortunate that my publisher does the poster designs, much better than I ever could.

Choosing the Toronto venue has always been easy; Toronto has a wonderful independent mystery bookstore, Sleuth of Baker Street, which is always supportive of Canadian crime writers and hosts many signings and launches. These are informal, friendly affairs. I usually provide some drinks and sweets, chat with attendees, many of whom are old friends, chat about the book and do a reading or two.

Choosing the Ottawa venue is more challenging. Because Ottawa is my hometown, I invite more people and like to have a bigger venue than my favourite bookstores can provide. I also tend to make it more of a party. Before the pandemic, I used to book a room or section in a local pub. When the pandemic hit, my launches were relegated to Zoom, which allowed me to reach many more people but lacked the feeling of connection. I'm thrilled now to be back in a pub and looking forward to making it a big party. Irene's Pub in Ottawa is well known in artistic and musical circles and provides a lively, informal venue. For this launch, I will be providing some food platters at my expense, as well as a cash bar and full pub menu. A friend's band is going to provide soft, background jazz to enhance the mood. This is shaping up to be a great party! Here's the invite.

Next, inviting the guests. Besides posting the two invites on my public Facebook and Instagram pages, I use two main sources of potential attendees -- my Facebook friends list and my Contacts list on my computer. Facebook has a very handy, easy-to-use program for designing and sending out the invitations. On the Events tab in the sidebar, choose "Create a new event", and follow the instructions. It allows you to choose which friends to invite to the event, and rather than bothering everyone with the invite, I go through the friends list and choose those from the appropriate city. I miss some, of course, because I don't always know where they live, but I like ensuring I only pick people who might be interested. The invites are delivered not to that person's feed but to their Facebook Messenger. Again, not as intrusive.

Besides this approach, I also write an email describing the event, including the poster, and inviting people to come. I go through my Contacts list to email it out using the BCC feature. Some of these will likely end up in spam filters, which can't be helped.

As part of the preparation for the release, I also updated my website with the events listed, the first chapter of the new book, and other details. I am also going to post on a few blogs, and as part of this I learned one interesting new thing. The Universal Book Link. I had no idea such a thing existed, but Books2read.com creates a universal link where all the links to the book on different sales outlets are collected under this single link. Following the instructions, I set one up for SHIPWRECKED SOULS,  and although it's a work in progress as I am still searching for links to add, this one link will provide the purchaser with a choice of bookstores where the book is available. To illustrate, here's the link I set up. https://books2read.com/u/4Xx0W7

Now I hope everything is in place and all that is needed is for people to come! 

Inspiration from the Past

Catherine Dilts

I never thought I’d write historical fiction, until a story dropped into my lap. A whole trunk full of stories. I had to start somewhere, so I picked one. And this story is a doozie.

Going through the piles of photos, newspaper clippings, letters, and journals my mother left me, I discovered an irresistible true tale. My great-aunt Mildred was in a bank robbery.

If you knew Aunt Millie the way we did, you might briefly suspect she’d participated. She was a sassy gal. A real firecracker. Not that I actually expected her to engage in criminal activity. But it wouldn’t have shocked me much if she’d been on the periphery of something sketchy.

She was, however, an innocent bystander. In 1932, at the tender age of twenty-five, Mildred Berry was working in a South Dakota bank when armed men entered to rob the place. Someone in the family had clipped newspaper articles and tucked them away, for me to find over 90 years later. My mother hadn’t been born yet. This seemed so ancient, and yet so immediate.

One article stopped abruptly. Someone either didn’t clip the rest of the article, or the other half had been lost over the decades.

I had this pile of very interesting material. Interesting to me, at least. What was I going to do with it? I couldn’t bear the thought of this stuff moldering away for another generation. Maybe becoming permanently lost to decay or indifference.

First, I verified the clippings by checking my great-grandfather’s journal entry for the date of the robbery. He wrote briefly about his daughter’s terrifying experience.

Second, I fortuitously ran across a Facebook page for the small town where the robbery took place. Oh, no! The bank was being torn down! I watched the progress of the demolition in horror. Not that well-built over a hundred years ago, I suspect, it was crumbling and unsalvageable. At least I had the before images, and found other photos of the bank when it was fully intact.

Third, I messaged the town’s Facebook page, and learned where to find archived newspapers for the more complete story about the robbery. I was amazed these prairie newspapers had been lovingly preserved digitally, and there are people who can look up specific info for you, for a modest fee. I soon had several articles, plus the just conclusion for the ruffians.

Fourth, now I was in knee deep, and wading further. I dove into research, learning about Model As and bank vaults, and reading great-grandfather’s memoir/history. I tried writing Millie’s story. Being a fiction writer, I struggled for a bit, until I decided I didn’t need to stick to the plain facts. So I embellished, adding a plotline that has no connection to reality. Millie’s story, but fictionalized.

I’m still working on the short story. My critique partner won’t see it for another month or two. And I’m not sure where to send it for potential publication when I’m finished. At this point, I don’t care much about the end result. This is a story I had to tell. For Aunt Millie.

Welcoming the Unexpected

Journal Collage Cover

By Shelley Burbank

One of the best parts of coming to the last page of a journal is starting the first page of a new one. No, it’s what comes before that. It’s picking out a new journal with a beautiful cover or, in my case, creating a collage cover that will inspire me over the course of filling the pages. I use no set dates. I start when I start. I write when I feel like it. I stop when I get to the last page, even if it’s a random day in February. 

Soft, leather books with wraparound ties. Pretty floral designs with gold-embossed letters spelling “Journal” and/or the year. Plain, black moleskine notebooks. Marble or other decorated composition books. I’ve tried all of these, but my preference now is to buy a spiral bound, college-ruled notebook with cardboard covers and make my own design from magazine cutouts, bits of pretty papers (even cocktail napkins), ephemera like ticket stubs or postcards, and even ribbons or buttons.  

This year I completed my last journal not long after Christmas. This wasn’t planned, but that meant I could create a new journal right at the new year, coinciding not only with my 57th birthday but also with a huge, life-changing move halfway around the world to Guam, a tiny speck in the Pacific barely 36 miles long and 12 miles wide.  

I’d been approaching this big move with a great deal of trepidation. Not only that, I’d become disenchanted with the whole publishing/marketing/PR side of my writing life, especially the social media aspect, at the same time. Here I was with some book projects started and stalled, another project planned, and feeling meh about the entire industry and unsure how to attract new readers and keep my writing career moving forward. A downward spiral seemed imminent. 

But I had a journal collage to create. 

Feeling cranky and uninspired, I gathered some magazines around me, grabbed my scissors and a gluestick, and tried to relax so that my subconscious could do its work.

At first, I couldn’t find anything I wanted to use for my collage. I cut out a few things, pushed them around into different configurations, testing the design. Nothing felt right, but then an advertisement with a clear blue-green background and butterflies caught my attention. I cut out a big chunk and laid it on the journal cover as a potential background layer. My mood lifted. That color felt like tropical beaches, far-off coastal skies, and luxury. It felt like something I could work with. Something appropriate to my adventures ahead.

Once I had the color, more images popped out for me. A dragonfly in golden brown hues. A ripped bit of cocktail napkin from a pack my friend gifted to me last summer. A turtle. A caftan. Sunglasses. 

Aha! My inner self knew I needed a different, positive approach to this move. Lean into it, my muse whispered. I cut out a starfish and a postcard and, most important, I spotted a writing prompt in Magnolia magazine reading: How can you approach each day open to the unexpected?

THIS, I thought, heart lifting. This is the attitude I needed moving forward. Openess to the new, the strange, the unfamiliar, the unexpected. 

Sure enough, not long after completing my journal collage and writing a few entries, a new story idea popped into my head, and I quickly wrote in the journal as the narrative formed. A character swam up from the depths. Who was she? What was her story? Why does she decide to go to . . . Guam?  

Everyone who said to me, “Well, this adventure should inspire some new writing,” had been right! 

I now plan on writing a series of stories set in Guam featuring my new character, a woman my age but not my circumstances (although she is a writer!) who decides to sell her home and move to that tiny speck in the Pacific. She (I don’t know her name yet. Katrina? Lindsay? Lynnie? Brooke? Marley? Tatum?) found a mysterious postcard from Guam addressed to her now-deceased mother, sent in 1973 from a man my character’s never heard of. Part of her journey will be discovering what this man mean to her mom, but really the postcard just gave her an idea of where to go when she needs a new start. 

Using long short stories, or novellas, I’ll be able to share my Guam experiences with my friends, family, and readers. How and where I’ll share them remains to be figured out, but I’m happy to be feeling creative again. In the end, I want my life to be about creativity and books and writing. 

Living your own “good life” is an art. I encourage you, my friends and readers, to be creative in your actual daily living. Find the things that make you happy and incorporate them into your life as much as possible. Be aware of the passing of your days. Make each day meaningful in little ways with your own rituals. Be deliberate in your choice of meals, music, books, collections, furnishings, and daily tasks.

How can YOU welcome the unexpected as we head into 2025?

My Year in Books, 2024

 by Sybil Johnson

Happy New Year! Sorry I missed my last posting date. I was in Seattle for Christmas and, well, was too lazy/busy to put something together before I left.

It’s time for my annual reading wrap-up. January to December, just to make it clear. I say this because I participated in shepherd.com’s My 3 Favorite Reads 2024. Their year runs from end of September 2023 to October 2024. More on that later.

I saw a post online where someone wondered why people keep track of what and how many books they read. I started keeping track because I was curious about how many I actually read in a year. Plus it’s also a nice reference so I know if I already read a book. I also like to share the highlights of my reading because it’s a way of bringing attention to books that I think others would enjoy. With all of the books out there, it’s hard to get noticed sometimes. I also know what I’ve read so I can participate in things like Shepherd’s My 3 Favorite Reads that I mentioned above.

Let’s start with Shepherd’s. Those books were:

1. Murder at Mallowan Hall by Colleen Cambridge
2. The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
3. The General’s Gold by LynDee Walker and Bruce Robert Coffin 

I won’t go into details here. You can read my comments at https://shepherd.com/bboy/2024/f/sybil-johnson

Number of books I “consumed” (audio plus print/ebook) in 2024: 105. Last year it was 68 so I guess I found more time to read. Around 30% non-fiction, 65% crime (middle-grade books, cozies, historicals, thrillers and traditional). The other 5% were science fiction/fantasy and audio

I don’t usually set a reading goal for the year, but last year I decided to try for 100 books in 2024. Yep, made that one. Not going to set a goal for 2025.

Cozy/traditional highlights: 

1. Ill-fated Fortune by Jennifer J. Chow 
2. Besides the Phyllida Bright mysteries, which includes Murder at Mallowan Hall, I also enjoyed the first book in Colleen Cambridge’s An American in Paris series. Check both of the series out. 
3. A Sprinkling of Murder by Daryl Wood Gerber. This series includes a fairy as a sidekick. Very clever and fun read.

Non-fiction highlights:

1. Neither Snow Nor Rain: A History of the United States Postal Service by Devin Leonard. I picked this one up at the Postal Museum in D.C., a really great museum with a wonderful free tour. It was a fascinating book. I highly recommend it.
2. Disney’s Land by Richard Snow. I enjoyed this history of Disneyland since it’s one of my favorite places to spend time at.
3. The President and the Assassin by Scott Miller. The president is McKinley. I knew little about him until I read this book. Very interesting.

Historical Mystery highlights:

1. The Redmond and Haze mysteries by Irina Shapiro. I continue to enjoy these.
2. The Isolated Séance by Jeri Westerson. Thoroughly enjoyed this new series from Jeri.

Audio highlights:

• A Christmas Carl by Dickens and Gaspard, narrated by Jim Cunningham. No, I didn’t make a mistake in my typing. This is part of Gaspard’s Greyhound Classics series where he takes a classic book and inserts Carl, a greyhound, into the story. Delightful. Nicely narrated.

That’s my reading summary. There were a lot of other good books I read over the year. These are just the highlights. 

 How was your reading year? Anything you particularly liked that you want to give a shout out to?

My First Type M Blog

 Good Grief. I came across my first post for Type M and can't resist reposting it. Next time I'll tell you how much has changed about publishing. And how much things have stayed the same.

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Blog Heaven

I’ve died and gone to blog heaven, of course. When the gracious, talented Donis Casey invited to become a regular contributor, naturally my first instinct was to mumble “who, me?” I’m deeply honored! Not only is Type M for Murder my favorite mystery blog, during the past two years I’ve met some of the wonderful persons who keep this blog going. In fact, I’m now an honorary Canadian. This was decided in the bar after the Left Coast Crime Convention in Santa Fe.

Donis Casey came to my book launch at Poisoned Pen Press, which was a heady experience that gave me delusions of grandeur. Oh, if I could freeze these moments! They compensate for the panicky “can I do write another book?” paralysis that stuns our creativity. It’s rather overwhelming to have an award winner writer of Donis’s caliber in the audience. (A real writer)

Barbara Fradkin was my roommate at Left Coast Crime. She is one classy dame! She taught me a lot about dealing with adversity. Her flight was cancelled and she was rescheduled. She breezed in at 3:00 am and got up at six to go on the Taos tour, explaining that she was not going to let the plane snafu ruin her plans. Wow! Not a word of complaint. I bought her book, Once Upon a Time, and was awed by her ability to maintain the smooth pacing of a complex plot based on events evolving from World War II and war crime issues. Marvelous characterization.

Vicki Delany is one of the friendliest, nicest writers I know. I loved In The Shadow of the Glacier and bought Negative Image at Santa Fe. We shared a room at Malice Domestic last year. She tried to tell me Deadly Descent was a finalist for the AZ Book Publishers Award, and I hooted and jeered and patiently explained to her why that could not possibly be true. I won and have been trying to compensate for questioning her truthiness ever since. In short, I buy her drinks.

Now it’s true confession time. I have a weird half-life as a historian and do some academic work. Sort of like some drugs that keep working after you stop taking them. I’m an accidental academic without sterling credentials. Nevertheless, I'm a highly opinionated and relentless researcher and that counts for a lot. In fact, my first novel was not a mystery, but a historical novel, Come Spring, and it was published by Simon and Schuster.

In the meantime, I was publishing mystery short stories and loving every minute of it—so I added mystery novels to my writing mix. How is that working for me? Not very well. Too many editors and not enough time. Mysteries soon possessed my mind and soul. I love writing them. Who knew? So I’m polishing off my editors, one by one, and soon Poisoned Pen Press and my Lottie Albright series will be the last man standing.

For my next gig, I’ll tell more about the Lottie Albright series. Greek tragedies are alive and well, they’ve just switched their venue to the High Plains. I’m a native Kansan, with a flaming state loyalty, so it’s only natural that my historical novels, my academic work, and my mysteries should be set in this difficult state where conniving families with tattered pasts seethe with historical and contemporary tensions.

One place to get inspiration - Al Capone

     People often ask, “Where did you get the idea for this story?” They are often surprised by the answer: daydreams. Perhaps they expect my Muse to whisper to me as I sleep and dream. I am not Edgar Cayce, the Sleeping Prophet. My dreams are disappointing.      

     I can have a Star Wars level murder mystery working in my head, but my dreams, the ones I remember anyway, don’t contribute. My dreams are about crowded airline terminals, Atlanta for example. I am in a mad rush to the gate to find my gate has been changed to one that’s across the airport! I run thru thongs of people like it was the Rose Bowl and the band was still on the field. My huge and heavy suitcase pops open, I struggle to get it snapped! Then, somewhere deep in my skull, I remember I had this anxiety dream before, and I know it goes nowhere and contributes nothing, and I wake up to get out of it. Spit, pee, try to go back to sleep. Needless.

     Daydreams are different. Neil Gaiman said, “You get ideas from daydreaming…. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.” Anon said, “Daydreamers have the advantage over those who dream only at night.”

     I imagine scenes, full of color and human activity. I “listen” to characters talk. I put characters in the scene and give them a problem, a threat, a mission, rewards. Then I daydream about what they do. 

     Titles take inspiration from the world in the story, and reality helps me twist them a bit. Plots come from what the characters decide to do.  Plots might be linked daydreams.

     Quotations can get me thinking. I collect them. They offer a new perspective on human events, they present truths, they play with reality, they illustrate moods. If they give me a mental buzz, perhaps there is a story in there someplace. They spark daydreams, and off we go!

     I am currently working on a story featuring my Denver PI, Sammy Lagune (the latest story is in Micky Finn 5). The plot is inspired by the famous Chicago mobster, Alphonse Capone.

     He said, “You’re either at the table or on the menu.”   Vicious, predatory, kill or be killed. Dangerous territory for Sammy, life-threatening. A threat to his Capitol Hill community too, out east on Colfax. Raymond Chandler described the perfect PI as a modern Knight protecting society. Sammy will hear the call to action and he won’t ignore it.

     Dream on, keep a notebook by your bed, next to where you write, maybe even with you all the time. Daydreams are ephemeral and they lose fidelity quickly. Jot down a few notes so you can revisit the daydream later. It will serve you well.

Steve Pease/Michael Chandos

Off To A Slow Start

 

I'm very late posting today, which is not the greatest way to start the New Year, but it is a way. Here we are again, at  the beginning of a whole new cycle. December has always been a momentous month in my life. Besides Christmas, when I was growing up, my family celebrated my mother’s birthday, my grandfather’s birthday, my sister Carol’s birthday, and my birthday. My mother and grandfather are gone (in fact today, Jan 2, is the 20th anniversary of my mother's passing), but Carol and I are partying on.

I finally finished the first draft of a new MS after toiling on it for an entire year. My critique group was very complimentary throughout the process, until I submitted the reveal at the end. They were too polite to say they hated it, but I can read the room. So back to the murder drawing board.

On a more personal note,I decided that this year I was going to let my hair go grey, because why the hell not? But after a few months, I changed my mind. I love grey hair on others, and I’d love it on me if it were a pretty grey. But sadly my salt-and-pepper only looked faded and sad. So back to the color of my youth. At least until my grey decides to cooperate and turn to a stunning all-over silver.

 November 15 was my 50th wedding anniversary. Above is a selfie we took on the day. There is nothing like the bond that develops between two people who have stuck with each other through thick and thin for decades.

Happy New Year!

I have been very remiss in posting this past month, although in fairness, it's been a very busy month with holiday activities and also abdominal surgery stuck in the middle. But here I am, just in time to wish everyone all the very best for 2025. I can't believe we are a quarter way through this century when it seems only yesterday we were all worrying about the computers crashing and the world ending as the calendar turned over the millennium. Of course, it helps to remember that date is an entirely arbitrary invention and that other civilizations have very different dates.

The year 2025 promises many surprises for the world order, and many of us are approaching it with trepidation, even dread. I don't intend to to turn this into a political post because this blog is meant to focus on crime writing, but suffice it to say, in the upcoming uncertain times, perhaps exploring murder and mayhem within the safe confines of a book is useful therapy. Or at least an outlet for our frustrations.

With that in mind, I am starting off 2025 with a very busy author schedule. My latest Inspector Green novel, SHIPWRECKED SOULS, hits the bookshelves at the end of January, although it can be pre-ordered now in many outlets, and I will be signing free copies in my publisher Dundurn's booth at the Ontario Library Association conference in Toronto on January 31. On February 1, I celebrate the book's Toronto launch at the famous and wonderfully supportive Sleuth of Baker Street from 1 - 3 pm.

Then on Sunday February 9 from 3 - 5:30 pm,  I am holding the main launch party at Irene's Pub in Ottawa. There will be some food platters but also a cash bar and full pub menu available. I can't wait for this, because it's the first pub launch I've held since the pandemic and I am ready to enjoy myself. I hope others are too! 

After that I so far have a couple of talks and one signing planned at Indigo Books in the Bayshore Shopping Centre, Ottawa, on February 22 from 1 - 3 pm. Now that the holiday festivities are over, it's time to start booking more, Maybe a spring mini-tour of the many independent bookstores in towns in the Ottawa Valley? 

At the same time, I am working on a short story for an anthology Dundurn is planning around the theme of 'Monsters'. Lots of scope there! And I am slowly - and I mean very slowly - working on the first draft of another book. After a challenging health year that forced me to slow down drastically, I've made a resolution to take life at a more leisurely pace. It's one way to cope with 2025.

Here's to health, happiness, and peace for all in the new year.

2024 – The Year I Discovered True Crime Podcasts

 Catherine Dilts

This year had the usual ups and down. Some more sad than usual, like my father passing in March at the age of 89. Some stressful, like remodeling half our house.

Under the column listing happy events was discovering the wonderful world of podcasts. Especially true crime. I’m often late to the party, whether it concerns technology or current entertainment. I don’t know why it took me so long. I love multi-tasking, and podcasts are perfect when I’m running, cooking, or gardening.

Because I have only just begun to explore podcasting, my list of favorites will be limited.

Small Town Dicks: My younger sister nagged me until I gave this podcast a listen. Yeardley Smith (yes, the voice of Lisa Simpson from the animated TV show) hosts police detectives and brothers Dan and Dave, plus a revolving cast of law enforcement professionals. They discuss criminal cases in – you guessed it – small towns. Many are cases Dan or Dave were involved in, and they offer an insider view of criminal investigations, explaining terminology and procedure.

True Crime Garage: Two guys sitting in a garage, drinking beer and discussing heinous crimes. I presume Nic and the Captain are recycling those bottles, because of their one rule stated in every episode: don’t litter. Their cases can be international, but are mostly set in the US. At the end of unsolved cases, they offer their opinions on whodunit. They also cover solved cases, missing persons, and serial killers.

The FOX True Crime Podcast: host Emily Compagno has access to major players, and is backed by an investigative team. Compagno often interviews survivors of crime, with compelling episodes on people who lived to tell their stories despite horrific attacks. I’ve heard podcasts as varied as how juries are selected, serial killers, how DNA can solve cold cases, Secret Service protocol, and the Jonestown massacre.

Hell and Gone: tagline – “There is no such thing as a small town where murder never happens.” Catherine Townsend receives pleas for help from people all over the US seeking answers about their missing or murdered loved ones. Her cases seem to take her frequently to the rural South. Multiple episodes are often needed to chase down clues and suspects.

Single case podcasts: They typically follow cases from beginning to end, unfolding as new evidence is uncovered, or arrests are made.

One of the first podcasts I listened to was The Piketon Massacre. Almost an entire family was wiped out by another family, at least partly over a child custody dispute. Drug use, trailer houses, and infidelity abound in a case with hillbilly feud tones. The criminals are tried, and verdicts declared in spring of 2023. The hosts Stephanie Lydecker, Courtney Armstrong, and Jeff Shane are currently following The Idaho Massacre.

Burden of Guilt, hosted by Nancy Glass, covers the bizarre story of a two-year-old blamed for the death of her infant brother. The accused began to pursue the truth as an adult, not willing to accept her family’s blame. Glass reveals the challenges of solving a forty-year-old cold case with the forensic evidence of that era. Not to mention uncooperative family members.

Status Untraced: A missing person case. In 2016, Justin Alexander went to the Parvati Valley in India seeking adventure, enlightenment, and maybe coincidentally drugs. Host Liam Luxon retraces Justin’s route, and discusses the theories surrounding his disappearance. 

My newest discovery might be a stretch to fit in my true crime library.

Tooth & Claw: True Stories of Animal Attacks. Sounds sensationalist, but this podcast is hosted by wildlife biologist and animal behavior expert Wes Larson. His brother Jeff and friend Mike add commentary that can be juvenile, but funny. I’ve learned a lot about animals, and what to do if you encounter one in the wild. Dos and don’ts, what your chances are of surviving an attack, and whether the species is endangered or thriving. Great to listen to while I’m running trails through thick trees.

I’m missing a few that I’ve given a listen, because I’ve forgotten the podcast name and can’t find it at the moment.

A word of caution: if listening to true crime or animal attack stories while running, do not have earbuds in both ears, in case something or somebody tries to sneak up on you. And prepare for many jump scares caused by garter snakes, birds, and bunnies bursting across the trail right when you’re listening to the really scary parts. Please note the perfectly harmless snake slithering for cover in the photo, the cause of many a jump scare.

I’m certainly not the expert here. There are so many true crime podcasts, I’ve barely dipped my toe in the pond. I’m sure there are plenty you could recommend, and please do, in the comments.

What Are We Afraid Of?

I was recently asked to judge a writing contest called “Winter Hauntings”.  Local writers were invited to create eerie stories with a local flavor.  The most difficult part?  It can only be about 1,000 words. 

On January 29th, the winners will be announced, and local community theater actors will read the three finalists. It’s a great event with music and it was sold out last year. 

All of the entries were excellent and there were some that were outstanding.  Now, there were also a couple that I didn’t find scary.  

But what frightens us is subjective, isn’t it?  What scares the bejesus out of me might not have any effect on you.   

I went to Google to see what scares most of us and it, in itself, was kind of scary. Chapman University does an annual study to find out what frightens Americans the most.  Please allow me to list their findings for 2024:

1) Corrupt Government Officials (65.2%)

2) People I Love Becoming Seriously Ill (58.4%)

3) Cyberterrorism (58.3%)

4) People I Love Dying (57.8%)

5) Russia Using Nuclear Weapons (55.7%)

6) Not Having Enough Money for the Future (55.7%)

7) US Becoming Involved in Another World War (55.0%)

8) N. Korea Using Nuclear Weapons (55.0%)

9) Terrorist Attack (52.7%)

10) Biological Warfare (52.5%)

Chapman University explains that American’s fears rise and fall with current events, but they also correspond to social media.  For example, ranking high but not in the top ten was a fear of rising crime, in spite of the fact that rates of crime continue to fall. 

Other fears that scored high were serial killings and mass shootings.  Yeah, I get that. 

Going into the study, it was generally thought the number one fear would be the Fear of Public Speaking.  Nope…it came in at 29%, a few percentage points below the fear of sharks. 

I was personally disappointed that Climate Change didn’t figure higher in our list of fears. 

So, to wrap up, none of the stories I judged for the contest had anything to do with corrupt government officials. There were ghosts, killers, and ravenous birds, but no cyberterrorism or nuclear weapons.

I, however, still enjoy a good story with mists in a swamp, noises in the dark, mysterious footsteps on the stairs, and a good jump scare.  

I wish you a Happy New Year that is completely devoid of any of the listed scary items.  Vampires and zombies, we can deal with them.  

Writer Anxiety

 You don't have to scratch a writer very deep to have them vent about writer anxiety. I suppose that most everyone involved in a demanding activity, particularly one in which we expect a public payoff, suffers from this type of anxiety. It's known by other names such as stage fright or pre-race jitters. What drives anxiety is fear, and for writers it's an acute fear of rejection and fear that you've missed your mark and thereby wasted your time pounding the keys. 

Writing is an intensely intellectual and emotional effort that demands your complete attention. Once you break focus, the mental gears grind to a halt. You can't write with your brain partially engaged. Adding to the challenge, is that good prose can't be formulaic. If you write to a template, the narrative will become stiff, clichéd, and unconvincing. I've heard people say that writing a series is easier than a stand-alone because you've got the world and characters figured out. That's partly true. But that becomes its own hurdle as you now have the issue of bringing in backstory and establishing those same characters and setting in a way that orients a new reader without forcing the returning reader to slog through familiar territory. And there's avoiding similar plot twists. And never, ever plagiarize from your earlier works.

All of this is what makes writing so hard. With practice, the crafting of scenes, understanding how to present details, pacing, that becomes a little easier to handle. But the story-telling part always remains the confounding uphill battle. I remember an interview with Carl Hiassen where he was asked if after publishing so many books, did the writing become easier? He answered that at the moment the writing seems easier, then that's the moment you get complacent and start to suck. 

To be productive in writing, we're advised to mute our inner critic and get that first draft done. Then afterwards, take heed of what Ernest Hemingway said: "The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof, shit detector."

How then do we tackle writer anxiety? By returning to the basics. Start with BICHOK--Butt In Chair, Hands On Keyboard. Enlist your writing tribe, one with the chops to call you out when you're no longer seeking counsel but procrastinating. Have faith in yourself and in the process. Easier said than done.

Five Ways to Empower Yourself Regarding Social Media in 2025

By Shelley Burbank 

I'm adding art journaling to my life in 2025

The new year is just a few days away. As 2025 rounds the bend, many of us will consider changes and improvements we’d like to make in our lives, both personal and professional. I’ve known for a while a major change I wanted to make for both personal and professional reasons, and all of a sudden (or again?) I’m seeing other creatives questioning the same promotional “strategy” we all love to hate. 

I’m talking, of course, about social media, and I have some suggestions for you. 

If you want to get to the bullet points right away, slide down to the bottom of this essay, look for Five ways to empower yourself regarding social media in 2025, and skip the wordy stuff. Otherwise, read on.

Pay to NOT Play?

There’s no need to rehash the history of socials. We’ve all heard it before. Most of us have also read about the keynote address presented by Leonardo Bursztyn at the Economic Society of Australia annual conference earlier this year. (Lecture based on When Product Markets Become Collective Traps: The Case of Social Media by Leonardo Bursztyn, Benjamin Handel, Rafael Jim´enez-Dur´an, and Christopher Roth. (See 1 in End Notes) 

In this study, researchers found that university-aged social media users would PAY TO DEACTIVATE their accounts if they were assured that ⅔ of other users also deactivated. It seems that we don’t necessarily enjoy being on social media. We just have a fear of missing out. Not only that, we’d pay actual money to free ourselves from social media’s unhealthy, sticky, long-fingered grip. 

 Let that sink in. 

 [pausing ……..] 

Clock Ticking on Tik Tok 

Okay, then, moving on. In other social media news, Tik Tok is set to be banned from the U.S. on January 19 if something doesn’t intervene (like the Supreme Court) in the meantime. 

While “BookTok” has created some viral bestsellers that otherwise would have been lost in the sea of publishing, it doesn’t guarantee authors will earn a living wage from their books if only they crack the Tik Tok code. Like everything else in this business, luck on Tik Tok overrides effort, time, and skill. If you want to gamble on a platform, enjoy! Why not? But if you actually believe you’ll become a New York Times bestseller just because you went viral one silly reel about something unrelated to your book, then you might as well book a trip to Vegas and step up to a slot machine. 

So, yes. On January 19, I hope Tik Tok goes down. I hope every other social media follows suit. Sorry, not sorry. We were better off without them. 

Meanwhile, I’ve vowed to 90% quiet quit Facebook and Instagram (my preferred platforms with the most engagement and followers) in 2025. Meaning what? I’ll post every 10 days or less or when I have an announcement to make. I won’t be scrolling. I won’t be commenting. I won’t be engaging except to answer comments on my own posts. Again, sorry. But not really. Because I want social media to fail. 

What's Old is News Again

If I’m not going to use socials for marketing and promotion, how will my readers know when I have a new book for sale? The newsletter, of course. Year after year, I give lip service to building my email list, but I haven’t really focused on it lately because of Mailchimp costs and now Gmail and Yahoo! authentication issues. Now that Substack has solved my deliverability problem, working to increase my email list is my #1 marketing goal this year. 

Want a peek at my PINK DANDELIONS newsletter? Go HERE. 

I’m also interested in being invited to speak as a guest on podcasts. Finally, going back to the basics means writing and submitting short stories to paying markets like magazines and anthologies. 

Have I mentioned how happy and excited I am now that I’ve made these decisions? 

Every day I feel a little more like my old, creative self. Giving so much away for free these past years has demoralized and discouraged me. Taking back control of my creativity and how much access I give the public feels both freeing and empowering. 

In summary, here are some tips that may help YOU get off the social media hamster wheel. 

Five ways to empower yourself regarding social media in 2025 

1. Limit your social media posting days. This could mean you only post one day a week or two or even one day per month. Put it on your planner/calendar, then ignore the little app symbols on all the other days. Lather, rinse, repeat. 
2.  Limit your daily time spent on social media. If you must check your socials every day, set a timer. When the buzzer rings, press that little x in the corner and put your phone down. Go write something. Or take a walk. 
3.  Quit one or more platforms. Pick your favorite. Delete the rest. Or pick your least favorite and delete that account. Or put one or more on hiatus for a while and see if you miss any of them. More importantly, see if doing so impacts your sales or the open rate on your marketing emails or any other metric you can devise. 
4.  Slow your scroll. When you are on socials, limit yourself to posting and responding to reader comments. Do not scroll your feed. Do not engage on other peoples’ profiles or pages. The idea here is to MAKE SOCIAL MEDIA UNSOCIAL. Will your people be upset? Um, people are willing to pay to get off the darn platforms if everyone else does. They might, in fact, admire and be grateful. If not? 
5. Nurture a “don’t care” mindset. This might be the hardest thing, but training yourself not to care if you lose a few followers–or a lot of them–will set you free. There is little correlation between having a ton of followers and book sales. The favorite example of late is the Billie Eilish memoir. (See 2.) You can Google it, but I’ve given you a link below.

 I hope you’ve found this essay helpful and inspiring. Let’s ALL write more fiction and nonfiction and memoir and poetry and fewer social media posts in 2025. 

Happy New Year! 

Shelley 

--------

End Notes

1. https://theconversation.com/would-you-pay-to-quit-tiktok-and-instagram-youd-be-surprised-how-many-would-235180

2. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/07/books/social-media-following-book-publishing.html

Merry Day After Christmas

Merry Day After Christmas, Type M-ers.

I hope that you’ve enjoyed time with family and friends and you are enjoying vacation days this week. Having a week off provides time to reflect and look ahead. This is the time of year when I always try to look forward and set some writing goals for the upcoming year.

A note about setting goals: They have to be obtainable. Here are mine.

Write 15 pages a week. I don’t say “write every day” because my day job runs 60+ hours a week and being a dad and husband trump everything else. But I can pound out 15 pages in four 90-minute, early morning sessions, which feels doable.

Outline. This is a challenge for me. I’m better at journaling about characters and desires/challenges than I am actually creating a chapter-by-chapter outline. I find when I do that the book veers off course anyway. But it is an exercise worth doing, so I will try.

Strive for balance. Day job + Homelife + Writing = a lot. Keep that in mind and offer self-compassion.

This is my list of goals. Maybe they’re too simple. But I like simple and straightforward.

Happy holidays from Michigan!

(Corrigan Family Christmas Tree. 9-footer. I forgot the chainsaw....)

Book Mania

 By Charlotte Hinger

Every Christmas our family goes all out to support the publishing industry. We buy books like crazy. 

A friend asked me recently if I read fiction when I'm writing and if that interferes with my own work. No, reading while writing doesn't affect the work in progress, and giving up reading when I'm writing just makes me cranky. When I read a book with great description or characterization I try to improve whatever is on my computer at the time. I also find myself giving more thought to details in my own work.

I own way too many books. I simply can't help myself. They are as addictive as a drug. 

Most novelists have a horror of "unconscious plagiarism." So I was infuriated by a friend's recent blog on the outrageous blatant plagiarism perpetrated by a woman who copied a novel nearly verbatim and then posted it on Amazon as though it were her own book. She made quite a bit of money by doing this.

I feel so strongly about the issue of creative piracy that I won't even read books that expand on a dead author's characters or plot lines. I'm too cowardly to list all the books I refuse to read because I don't want to respond to readers who see nothing wrong with it.

To me, poaching characters is dishonorable! What's more, a line from an old Kipling poem, The Mary Gloster, comes to mind: "They copied all they could follow, but they couldn't copy my mind, And I left them sweating and stealing a year and a half behind."

Now we have AI to deal with. But I've noticed books built on another author's work flounder in the marketplace because the original creative spark isn't there.

Creative energy is unique to an individual. The source can't be duplicated. There is a great deal of craftsmanship involved with creating good books and much to be learned by studying the techniques of the masters. Especially when one begins to write. 

I often turn to books that I especially liked to see how they did something. I went back to Love Let Me Not Hunger to see why I thought Mr. Albert's leaving the circus was one of the saddest events I had ever come across.

How do other writer get characters out of room and change scenes? Oh. They don't. They simply double space. Why do the pages in this book rush by? Oh. Short, short sentences. Short chapters. Mostly action. Why do I like longer books with more detail? Oh. It's characterization.

Most of us go to the masters for instruction and inspiration, but a pox on anyone who goes with the intention of copying material.

 

Every Day Is Saturday

By Steve Pease/Michael Chandos.

 

     I’m a day late with my blog because I don’t know what day it is.

 

     When you have a job, you have structure, and your day is defined by that structure. On Monday you get up at 5 or 6 to drive to work, on Saturday and Sunday, you don’t. You bowl on Tuesday, eat lunch with your office section on Friday and gather for a beer after work. You pack a lunch every day, you exercise or go to the gym, you watch Monday Night Football.

 

     When you retire from the J.O.B or from work (a four letter work ending in K), most of the structure goes away. “Every day is Saturday.”  Projects around the house, decluttering, irregular exercise, watering the lawn, (YAWN) and maybe some writing. None of that will get the writing job done. It can become a blur.

 

     Here’s two tall tales about writers. Stephen King in his must-read book “On Writing” describes his writing day as up early, writing for four hours WITHOUT INTERRUPTION, lunch, then business in the afternoon (ie no or very little writing, but often editing)   

 

Writing and editing are different functions and should be separate.

 

John Stith, mostly an SF novelist, when he was working, got up at 4 am when the house was quiet, wrote til 5:30 or 6 when the family got up, and that was the writing for the day. In retirement, he still gets up early and reserves the morning for writing. He struggled to find the structure to frame his day, and, finally, just did it.

 

     That’s how you start. Look at how you write, how your day is built, how your head works and chisel out time to write when it’s best for you. Are you a morning person? Afternoon? (not me) Make a CONTRACT with yourself of when the writing occurs. Enforce it! Train your mind to look forward to those hours and reward it by showing up to work.

 

     For me mornings are best for exercising, house work, cutting the lawn, maybe email. I don’t like afternoons.  I want to nap and sometimes do (not over an hour). I do business, I might edit, pay bills, walk the dogs. Go shopping, start dinner.  My writing time starts around 7, maybe 8, and goes to 1 AM or later. Little editing, that’s afternoon work.  Creative work only during those hours. It works.

 

     Make writing a habit. Tell your head when Writing Time is and make sure you show up. Your creativity will show up too.

How the Sausage is Made

 I read Tom's entry about letting your newly-finished MS rest, below, with great sympathy and understanding. Mainly because I am doing the exact same thing right now. I've been writing on a new book, a stand-alone, I think, for over a year. For me, at least, it takes a long time to really get to know a brand new set of characters, a new setting, a new time period. I used every minute it took.

As I was writing this tome the story was wandering around in the wilderness, looking for the path to take it to the end. Every two weeks I would submit 20 pages to my critique group, and I almost always got positive feedback on the direction of the tale, my style, etc. As I wrote, I kept tweaking the plot. The direction kept changing, sometimes subtly, sometimes with a screeching u-turn. As I approached the climax, the end did not quite match the beginning any more. I knew there was some major rewriting in store.

Then the day came that I submitted the final pages - the reveal, the denouement. And my group hated it. Part of the problem was that for the past year, I've been submitting 20 pages ever 2 weeks. the group didn't remember many of the clues I'd dropped early on. The rest of the problem was that over that long year, I overthought everything and ended up with a much too convoluted reveal.

So. Time to let the story rest for a few weeks.

For me, this is how the sausage is made. It happens to me a lot, though not usually in such spectacular fashion. My first draft beginnings very often don't match the ends, because I keep getting brilliant ideas as I write. Or more properly, my characters get brilliant ideas and won't do what I thought they ought to do.

In any event. The story is resting and ripening in a drawer, and I've been sharpening my knives in anticipation of killing a lot of darlings in the MS. As the theatre manager character says in the movie Shakespeare in Love, it'll turn out fine. I don't know how. It's a miracle.

Since this is my last entry before Christmas, let me wish you Dear Readers a very happy Holiday Season, and may the upcoming year bring you blessings. (Please!) And here's a photo of our lovely tree for your enjoyment.

 

Encouraging Your Muse

 Catherine Dilts

Waiting passively for “the muse” to whisper in your ear is like sitting in a dark room waiting for someone to turn on the lights. There’s a point at which you need to stand up, walk across the room, and flip on the light switch.

There are periods when writing fiction can feel like slogging through a murky bog. Other times, the ideas rush like a clear mountain stream drawn downhill by gravity. There’s an undeniable ebb and flow to creativity.

What happens when a writer has gone days, weeks, or months without a visit from their muse?

Creativity can’t be forced, you might say. To which I counter: people do all kinds of things to trick their brains into being in the right state to perform various tasks. I recall finding my younger daughter sitting in her room with a text book and a candle. She explained that she was training herself to be focused to study whenever that scented candle was burning.

Ah, a physical cue. Like brewing coffee in the morning as you get ready for work. The smell of the coffee, even more than the caffeine, is a signal for your brain to switch gears.

Routines and triggers can cause you to anticipate an activity, but can they make you feel creative? Yes. I believe you can trick your muse into showing up, just as you can steer your brain, if you consistently use the same techniques.

All of the techniques. Because your brain is a crafty creature, and dull routine can sap creativity. So change things up.

Routine: Yes, I just said dull routine can sap creativity. But a routine is essential for convincing your brain that it’s that time of day. Time to write! Use scent, sound, and scenery cues. Like my daughter’s scented candle, smell is a powerful trigger. Some authors need the sounds of a coffee shop, while others need noise-cancelling headsets, or certain types of music. While writing an as-yet unpublished novel, I played late sixties to early seventies music constantly, to set my mind in the time period. 

Confidence: Believe in yourself, your message, and your skillset. There’s no greater drag on creativity than self-doubt. If you falter, “fake it ‘til you make it.”

Keep going: When you think you’re stuck, or become bored with a project, push just a little bit longer. You might make it past that speed bump and get rolling again.

Step away: The polar opposite of the above advice? Not exactly. The step away technique doesn’t simply mean quit writing. Work on a different story, writing-related social media, promotion, or research.

Touch grass: the youngsters use this phrase to mean “step away from your electronics.” Get off social media, peel your face off your computer/TV/phone screen, and go outdoors. Sunshine and fresh air have wonderful healing properties. Get grounded in nature. Or focus on a different type of creativity. Crocheting, painting, tying flies, or cooking, like making a batch of my annual gingerbread dinosaur cookies shown in the photo above.

Lately, I’ve been experiencing an upswing in creativity and energy. I know this feeling isn’t permanent. There will be times when my desire to hammer away on my keyboard flags. This time of year, there’s no grass to touch. But if I hit a slump, maybe I can touch snow to jumpstart my creativity.

Let That WIP Rest

 When I was in the hospital, I had a lot of time to think.  It’s either that or watch a ton of FRIENDS reruns.

Before going to the Galapagos, I’d sent a manuscript to my agent to read.  When I hit the send button, I thought it was a pretty good story. But as I said, while recuperating, I had a chance to think about it and knew that I was wrong. 

I could make that sucker better.

I needed to let the manuscript rest first, and then go back and look at it, rewrite it…reedit it.  

What do I mean when I say, “Let it rest?”  I mean put that story in a drawer and leave it alone for a few weeks or even longer.  Take some time to read books, visit friends, travel, or maybe even start a new project.  

Then revisit your Work in Progress.  You’ll see it with fresh eyes, getting a new perspective. You’ll be better able to spot plot holes, character inconsistencies, and other issues you may have missed. You’ll come back to your manuscript with a more objective and critical mindset.

It’ll help you gain clarity on both your story and your characters.  It may help you find new ideas or answers to problems that you couldn’t see before.  

Coming back to your Work in Progress will help you polish your manuscript. It’ll also give you a chance to renew your creative juices.  

Guaranteed, it will help you catch a ton of typos.  

As luck would have it, my agent hadn’t had a chance to read the manuscript, and I asked her not to.  Not until I had a chance to take another look at it.

By spending time reediting the work, I’m able to put more “flesh on the bones’ of the characters I’ve written.  You want them to be as three dimensional as you can possibly make them. 

I hope to be finished with the edits before the end of the month and get the manuscript back into my agent’s hands by the first of the year.  I think it will be a much better product.  I've even retitled it. Fingers crossed, we can find it a home.