Talking about poetry

A guest blog by Kaye Wilkinson Barley.

A few years back I came across a question a Facebook friend had posted pondering why weren't people writing poetry anymore?

Turns out this person had not read any poetry since their days in school when forced to memorize a poem from the book 101 Famous Poems compiled by Roy J. Cook (in print since 1916).

The answer to the question is, of course, yes there are, indeed, many more poets than the long honored Dickinson, Frost, Shakespeare, Poe, Whitman, Shelley, and Tennyson.

Modern poets being read and recognized more recently include the well-known Mary Oliver, Wendell Berry, Billy Collins, Elizabeth Bishop, Maya Angelou . . . the list is long.  Here's BookRiot.com's list of Best Modern Poets, which is short compared to the many poets who have work out there waiting for you to find.

Contemporary poets known for writing some fierce social commentary would include Kim Addonizio, Aja Monet, Louise Glück . . . again, the list is long and worth your research time.

And, then there are the poets writing today who may not be as well-known but might, some day in the future, be in a new version of 101 Famous Poems:  Leslé Honoré, Tara M. Stringfellow, Tarriona "Tank" Ball , along with this list of poetry books LitHub.com says you should be reading right now.

And finally, i apologize to those of you who are wondering how on earth I might have forgotten to include your own personal fave. It may be due to concerns of intruding into Marlyn's space. Or, I truly may have forgotten. OR, your fave may be someone I haven't discovered yet!

However, for several years, I have randomly posted poems that have somehow found their way to me at my blog. I dedicate the month of April to posting poetry. I hope you'll join me.

This might be the spot where I can tell you that a favorite place of mine to find new poets (along with writers, musicians, photographers, artists, etc.) is The Bitter Southerner, one of the best on-line magazines available today.

Thank you, Marlyn, for inviting me to write about a subject dear to my hear!

P. S.  -   

I recommend reading this essay by Courtney Emerson where she discusses elements of poetry which distinguish it from other forms of writing, and the importance it has played in society throughout history, i.e.,  .  . . ."with poets using their words to confront social and political issues."

Kaye lives with Don, her husband of 38 years, 

in the North Carolina mountains 

along with their Corgi, Annabelle. 

You can find Kaye's blog here.  

Sandhya (Sandy Asirvatham) reads William Carlos Williams

Sandy Asirvatham — known artistically as Sandhya—is a writer, musician, and producer living in Baltimore, although forever a New Yorker at heart. 

William Carlos Williams was born the first of two sons of an English father and a Puerto Rican mother of French, Dutch, Spanish, and Jewish ancestry, and he grew up in Rutherford, New Jersey. 

Please welcome special guest Peg Brantley!

There are many poems that hold meaning for me, but I chose this one in honor of my mother-in-law who will celebrate her 105th birthday on April 24th. Her book, and her voice, reflect the varied eras in which she has lived.

A Nightly Dream

It was only a dream

that seemed so real.

You held me in your arms

displayed all your charms.

Night after night, over and over again,

you filled my heart with memories of love

When I awake and you are not there,

the pain is too hard to bear.

Will the dreams go away

or do I want them to?

Or do I enjoy being tortured this way?

All I can say

I love the way

they make me feel,

those nightly dreams

that seem so real.

by Inez Frances Brantley, TIMELESS: Poetry for the Ages 

Peg Brantley is  a multi-award winning author who considers herself a conversation starter. She likes to take current social issues that are important to her and share them through her books.

With the intent to bring credibility to her stories, Peg is a graduate of the Aurora Citizens' Police Academy, and has interviewed crime scene investigators, FBI agents, and human trafficking experts. She has studied diverse topics from arson dogs to Santeria, and has hunted down the real locations she uses in her books.

Learn more about Peg on her website, or follow her on Facebook.

Please welcome special guest Wendy Hornsby!

On an ordinary day in an ordinary year, I would find it difficult to single out just one favorite poem. But there is precious little about any day during the last year that could be called ordinary. So many times since the realities of life during this deadly pandemic descended on us, I have thought of John Donne’s “No Man Is an Island.” During Donne’s lifetime, the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the British Isles and European continent would encompass his familiar world. I suspect that if he were around just a century later, his frame of reference might have been global instead. 

If we learned nothing else this year, it is that every one of us is connected to every other being on the planet. The outbreak of a new virus in one part of the world affects us all, just as the solutions belong to the world. Every illness, every death “diminishes me, Because I am involved in mankind.”

When pandemic was declared and governments everywhere began closing their borders, shuttering businesses, and sending children and non-essential workers home, my husband and I were traveling abroad. Airlines cancelled all flights, restaurants and hotels closed. And there we were, potentially marooned. We got home, eventually, because we had abundant help from friends and strangers alike. We were not, and are not, alone. We are “A part of the main.”

No Man is an Island   

No man is an island,                                                                                                            Entire of itself;

Every man is a piece of the continent, 

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less,

As well as if a promontory were:

As well as if a manor of thy friend's

Or of thine own were.

Any man's death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind.

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.

by John Donne

An NPR interviewer aptly described Edgar-Award winning author Wendy Hornsby as “a genteel college professor by day, and by night a purveyor of murder most foul.” Now retired after teaching History for thirty-eight years, Wendy has abandoned all pretense of gentility in order to purvey her two great interests, History and writing, full time. Published internationally, she is the author of fifteen books and many short stories. A Bouquet of Rue, (Perseverance
Press, April 2019), her most recent Maggie MacGowen mystery, is available now. The story of her flight from Europe during the pandemic shutdown, “Best Laid Plans and the Virus: A Cautionary Tale” can be found in Stop the World: Snapshots from a Pandemic (Thalia Press, June 2020). 

For more about the author, or to contact Wendy go to www.wendyhornsby.com.

 

Please welcome special guest Ann Holt!

"When I was younger, I thought this poem meant one thing. Now that I am older, it means something entirely different to me. Perhaps that's what is special about poetry. Although we often try to discover the author's meaning, it's more important how it affects us."  -- Ann Holt

(To hear Ann read the poem, please click here.)

The Road Not Taken  

by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

A passionate advocate for the arts, Ann Holt is an alumna of Carnegie Mellon University (Pittsburgh, PA) and the University of Michigan (Ann Arbor, MI) where she got her MILS. 

She retired from a career in libraries having worked in all types from public to special and academic to prison. An active blogger since 2007, Ann writes book reviews at Book Keeping (bkkp.blogspot.com).

Please welcome guest poet Sheila Lowe!

"I wrote this poem for my daughter on the day of her funeral. She was 27 and had created a very difficult life for herself."

 

Jennifer

She was a woman of fiery power
Who chose her own path—
Hers; no one else’s.

Her strength eclipsed a thousand trials
Under pressure that molds diamonds.

The curves in the road always hairpin turns for her,
The dips, always deep potholes.

Never a molehill,
Always Everest.

Still, she pressed on
She cried and raged and burned

She bent in two but never broke.

No wispy pinks or baby blues for her.
Queenly purple, sizzling red, stygian black.

She was a woman of exotic beauty
Who never knew how beautiful she was
She was a woman well loved
Who never knew how well loved she was.

Like her fictional character, Claudia Rose, Sheila Lowe is a real-life forensic handwriting examiner. 

The author of six nonfiction books and software for handwriting psychology, she has published eight in the Forensic Handwriting Mysteries series, and two Beyond the Veil Mysteries. 

The mother of a tattoo artist and a former rock star, Sheila lives in Ventura, California. She frequently appears in the media when handwriting is in the news.

 

Please welcome special guest Peg Brantley!

 Gettin’ Out Much? 

Hello, Fellow Non-Travelers! As I write this, I was supposed to be in Chile beginning an adventure in South America. Instead, I’m in cold and snowy Colorado where we’re solidly into our Teasin’ Season.

Anxious much? 

I was reminded recently about the power of deep breathing exercises. Long, focused inhales…hold for two counts…longer controlled exhales. Go ahead, try a couple. I’ll wait. I can feel the tension leave my body when I breathe like this. The trick is to remember the trick.

Suzanne Giesemann suggests that when you’re looking at your life as it is today, omit your "Shoulds", "Have Tos" and "Musts". Replacing those words with “I would prefer” can help give voice to what you’d rather have going on in your life while acknowledging your lack of control.

Giesemann also recommends that when you’re presented with a piece of news that is devastating, some overwhelming statistic, for example, that threatens to suck you into an unwelcome place, say “Isn’t that interesting.” This phrase takes you to neutral. You’re above judgment.

I was talking to a friend the other day and she said, “We can’t clean ourselves out of this.” At first I was shocked, then sat stunned realizing she was probably right. It would’ve been the perfect time to say, “Isn’t that interesting.” I guess this is one more trick to remember.

Unproductive much? 

Lisa Cooper Ellison wrote a piece for Jane Friedman’s blog that I read today. Ellison eloquently says that writing requires heart space. A place where we can dig down and pull up our feelings and our memories and our humanity to create characters and stories.

It can be painful to write deep POV. Cathartic yes, but you have to believe you’re in a safe place to bring your feelings to the surface where you can dust them off or poke them or do whatever you have to do to create that intense connection with readers. Heart space is that safe place.

But what happens when our heart space is filled with COVID-19 statistics,

the awareness that no one knows what’s going to happen next,worry about loved ones who might be more susceptible to the virus, wondering how much longer your food supply will last. How much longer your supply of toilet paper and cleaning supplies will last.  

Over the last three weeks I’ve read some good books, stopped reading some that weren’t so good, listened to a couple of good audio books, stopped streaming a popular show because I didn’t like it and found others I thoroughly enjoyed. And almost always, COVID-19 is running in my brain background.



I haven’t done a lick of work on my story.

Then yesterday, Seth Godin’s blog said this:

“We know how things are. How could we not?

And we see the emotional rut that so many have fallen into as well.

The question is: Will you embrace an emotional posture that models how you’d like to feel instead? Today, this day, we only get it once. How do you want today to feel on an emotional level?

It takes effort.

But it’s a choice.

We can’t change how things are, but we can change how we will approach today.

And yes, an attitude can spread. Begin with us.”


I hope you find some things in this post that are helpful. Things you can use today. Thoughts that will help pave the way back to whatever your adventure plans and hopes were as we rolled into 2020.

Marlyn, thanks for thinking of me and inviting me to spend a few minutes with you and your friends. This opportunity you handed me came at just the right time, allowing me to make the choice to get back to some work.




Peg Brantley is a multi-award winning author who considers herself a conversation starter. She likes to take current social issues that are important to her and share them through her books.

With the intent to bring credibility to her stories, Peg is a graduate of the Aurora Citizens’ Police Academy, participated in the Writers’ Police Academy, has interviewed crime scene investigators, FBI agents, human trafficking experts, obtained her Concealed Carry Permit, studied diverse topics from arson dogs to Santeria, and hunted down real life locations that show up in her books.

A Colorado native, Peg Brantley and her husband make their home southeast of Denver, sharing it over time with the occasional pair of mallard ducks and their babies, snapping turtles, peacocks, assorted other birds, foxes, a deer named Cedric, and a bichon named McKenzie.




You can learn more about Peg’s books at http://www.pegbrantley.com or meet up with her on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pegbrantleyauthorpage.

It’s all better with friends.

Please welcome special guest Marty Chan!

Marty Chan writes books for kids and plays for adults. In theatre, he’s best known for his hit plays, Mom, Dad, I’m Living with a White Girl and The Bone House. His kids books range from True Story, a funny picture book about his stressfarting cat to his steampunk fantasy trilogy, The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles. Marty’s latest book, Kung Fu Master, is available online and in bookstores. He works and lives in Edmonton with his wife Michelle. 

Writing tips for people looking for something to do during the Coronapocalypse

When I was starting out as a writer, experts would tell me again and again, “write what you know.”

Great advice… Unless you’re barely in your twenties and what you know is that D&D is your jam. While I’d be happy to share my notebooks of paladin adventures and gelatinous cube attacks, I thought it would be better if I stuck to writing advice that is less reliant on 20-sided dice and more practical.

First off, writing for yourself is awesome. With limitless imagination, anything is possible. When I worked with little kids, I was always amazed at their creativity. Talking unicorns led heroes into a world where rivers of chocolate never ran dry and stars were made from expired Pop Rocks. Of course, the kids were less concerned about structure, but who cared when the moon could randomly drop from the sky and crush any obstacle that stood before our hero? 

Revise, Revise, Revise 

Once you have a first draft, however, the real work begins. I’m going to use the dreaded ‘R’ word… Revision. Yes, writers revise. It’s part of the job. Some authors revise after they have their first draft completed, while other authors rework their story as they write their initial draft. No one method is better than the other, but the key is to go over your manuscript to make sure that the story works both for you as the writer as well as your reader.

Try this as an exercise. Tell a story to yourself. Then tell the same story to a friend. I’ll bet that how you tell the story to your friend will change based on how they respond to the story. That’s what revision is—adjusting your story to reach the reader. Yes, you might deviate from the original story, but to paraphrase a line from Casablanca, “You’ll always have your first draft.”


Trouble should be your story’s middle name

Where stories tend to get "flabby" is the same place those of us who fail to keep our New Year’s resolutions go flabby—the middle. The reason for this is a lack of conflict. As writers, we’re so focussed on setting into motion the events that we forget that the story gets interesting when our best laid plans go off the rails.

When I get to the middle, I always ask myself how can I get this character into trouble. And once I come up with a problem, I tell myself that I can come up with something better. In real life, most of us try to avoid trouble, which is why often times our fictional problems are so tame. We have to turn off the part of us that wants to get along with others and hurl our protagonists into the deep end of the pool. Yes, I know this makes it harder for you to rescue your character from her problems but trust me, more trouble makes for a far more interesting journey for the reader.


WOW your Readers

There are three things that have steered me in the right direction when I create conflict.

1. What does my character want? If I know their objective or goal, it gives the story a           direction to go.

2. Obstacles: Think about what or who can get in the way of your character’s mission.         External obstacles like objects and other characters will shape the story, but don’t forget       emotional/internal obstacles. They will develop your character.

3. Why does your character want to do all of this? Knowing the character’s motivation helps to solidify who your character is and makes them relatable to your readers.

Having WOW playing in the back of your head as you write will always help you create the kind of conflict readers want in a story. Just remember, trouble is your story’s middle name. 

Writing Lessons for Kids

Check out these YouTube videos for kids who want to write but need some guidance.

What does a Rubik’s Cube have to do with Writing? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NM6l44H6V64&t=5s


How to make setting come to life? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVviZzfQVTg&t=11s

How do you tackle a first draft? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ50wOPLslw&t=1s

Want to hear from other Canadian kids authors?  https://voiced.ca/project/i-value-canadian-stories-the-podcast/


My thanks to Marlyn for lending me the space on her blog to share my thoughts on writing. If you’re interested in any of my books, please check out my website: www.martychan.com.

Marty Chan writes books for kids and plays for adults. In theatre, he’s best known for his hit plays, Mom, Dad, I’m Living with a White Girl and The Bone House. His kids books range from True Story, a funny picture book about his stressfarting cat to his steampunk fantasy trilogy, The Ehrich Weisz Chronicles. Marty’s latest book, Kung Fu Master, is available online and in bookstores. He works and lives in Edmonton with his wife Michelle. 

Welcome Guest Blogger Gayle Carline!

Welcome to the Pandemic!

First of all, I’d like to thank Marlyn for inviting me to her blog today. It’s always fun to visit friends, even if it’s a cyber-visit during a pandemic.

You know, business as usual.

Experts say you can develop a new habit by practicing it each day for 21 days. Here in California, we’re on our 5th day of sheltering in place. If we keep this up for two-plus more weeks, I wonder what our lives will look like when restrictions are relaxed.

Will we still be washing our hands after every encounter with doorknobs, groceries, or gas pumps? Maybe we’ll all finally stop touching our faces, and have tissues more readily available. Seriously, people, wiping your nose on your shirtsleeve was never a good idea.

I, for one, really miss being able to hug my friends, but maybe I won’t still feel that way on Day 22. Handshaking may be a thing of the past. Perhaps we’ll all adopt the Vulcan salute.

There could be worse things to wish upon someone than to live long and prosper.

Our shopping habits will certainly change. These days I’m reminded of the Rolling Stones song: you can’t always get what you want. Eggs? No, but there are two cartons of Egg Beaters left. How about bread? No, but would you like hot dog buns? My meal plans at the moment look like an episode of a cooking contest on TV.

What can I make with chili powder, Ritz crackers, frozen corn, and Cheerios?

(By the way, when I look at photos of the crazy people buying cartloads of toilet paper, Ihave three questions: 

1) Did you take out a second mortgage on your house to pay for all that? 

2) Where are you going to store it? 

And 3) Damn, what does your diet look like?)

I’m actually hoping that our crazy-fast, impossibly-busy lifestyles get a makeover from this time. Before the pandemic hit, there were so many things in our lives that were important, so many places we had to be, tasks we had to perform. Turns out, none of it had to be done.

Yes, it is sad to miss gatherings and parties. Being away during hard times like operations and even funerals is especially cruel. But we are a resourceful folk. Parties are being Skyped. Technology keeps us in the loop during critical times.

And in all cases, we can be there in spirit.

When I was a software engineer, I used to sit in really big meetings and get tremendously bored, so I’d play the Earthquake Game. I’d imagine there was an earthquake, look around the room, and try to guess who would be helping others to shelter, and whose footprint would be on my back as they tried to escape. This pandemic is close to the game in real-time. We’re finding out who will help their neighbors and who will hoard the hand sanitizer.

Fortunately, I’m seeing more helpers than hoarders. That gives me hope.

PS, I’m not hoarding anything, except apparently horses. Call on me if you need a friend.

*********************************

Gayle Carline spent almost 30 years as a software engineer until she chewed her way out of the cubicle to become a writer. She began with journalistic pieces for Riding Magazine, then graduated to humor columns in the Placentia News-Times, and the North Orange County News Tribune. 

But she wanted to write whodunits. She knew nothing of police procedures, but figured that reading her husband’s mind was good experience for writing mysteries. Most of her books are set in Orange County, where there are always good places to hide a body. When she’s not writing, Gayle spends time with her horses, her family, and her friends.

Gayle’s latest book, Murder Bytes, is the fifth and final installment in her Peri Minneopa Mystery Series, featuring a 50-year-old housecleaner turned detective, and set in north Orange County. Murder Bytes is her 12^th book, but she is planning to write many, many more.

 

When Librarians Gather

A guest post by Miranda James.


Librarians, like other professional groups, have professional associations – associations that serve general or specialized needs. The catch-all in the United States is the American Library Association, and its annual meeting, held in the summer, attracts the largest number of librarians, exhibitors, and library supporters. 

Then there are the specialized associations, like the Medical Library Association, the Public Library Association, the Special Library Association, the American Association of Law Libraries, and so on. Beyond these there are regional association meetings of various kinds. These days travel funds are restricted, so attendance is down across the board, but librarians still manage to meet.

When I was thinking about the plot of Twelve Angry Librarians, I wanted it to involve some kind of library association meeting. Since Charlie works at an academic library, I thought a regional academic library meeting was exactly what was needed. Thus the Southern Academic Library Association (SALA) was born.

Librarians attend these conferences for numerous reasons – networking with other librarians, sharing information on technology, trends, and workplace issues, giving presentations on various topics, and reconnecting with friends and former colleagues. There are always keynote speeches, given by notable, occasionally controversial, speakers. These are the elements that helped create the story in this book.

At the SALA meeting, hosted by the Athena College Library, Charlie has the chance to visit with two old friends from his library school days. He is also forced to deal with his nemesis from that same time in his life, the odious Gavin Fong. Charlie and Gavin have an unfriendly history between them, and hostilities reopen in the present. When Gavin, one of the keynote speakers, drops dead during his talk, Charlie could be on top of the suspect list. He fought in public with Gavin at the conference…

That was the genesis of the plot of Twelve Angry Librarians.

Miranda James is the pseudonym of Dean James, a seventh-generation Mississippian long transplanted to Texas. A mystery fan since the age of ten, he wrote his first novel at the ripe old age of twelve. The only copy of The Mystery of the Willow Key vanished years ago, but since it was highly derivative of the Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden mystery series, that’s probably a good thing. 

 Dean lives with two young cats, thousands of books, and thinks frequently about killing people – but only in the pages of fiction.

Being Irish

by special guest Kylie Logan.

According to statistics, there are more than 33 million people in America–a little more than 10% of the population–who lay claim to Irish ancenstors.

I am not one of them.

My bloodlines are strictly eastern European and I will take pierogi over corned beef and cabbage any day, a shot of vodka (it has to be from Poland) instead of a beer, a plate of the fruit-filled pastries called kolachki over . . . well, pretty much over anything!

So why begin my new Ethnic Eats mystery series with "Irish Stewed" and Irish food?

The answer is really pretty simple. In the book, the heroine, Laurel Inwood, meets a man named Declan Fury who comes from a big, boisterous, rollicking Irish family. It’s no coincidence that my husband, David, comes from a big, boisterous . . . well, you get the picture.

David’s ancestors were railroaders, firemen and housekeepers. Our current circle (it’s a big one) of relatives includes bagpipers and cops and any number of in-laws, nieces and nephews who will argue politics passionately with you one moment, then drape an arm around your shoulders and give you a hug the next.

One of our best family traditions is a huge (we’re talking more than 100 people) St. Patrick’s Day party where David and I are always in charge of the colcannon. Ever have it? For the uninitiated, colcannon is simply mashed potatoes (the more butter added, the better) mixed with chopped steamed cabbage and kale. For our crowd, we start with fifty pounds of potatoes and every last bit of it is eaten.

Ah, if Laurel only had to worry about the Irish food she’s decided to add to the menu at her aunt’s restaurant! Life would be good if she could concentrate on boxty and soda bread, not on the body she finds in a booth her first day on the job. Serving up plates of Irish stew would be easier if she wasn’t so busy tracking down suspects, and since the victim is a TV investigative reporter, there are plenty to be had.

In addition to giving me the chance to craft a fun mystery, writing about ethnic food has allowed me to explore heritage and how our sense of self is wrapped up in memories and memories often come with the aroma of home cooking. How about you? What ethnic foods did you grow up eating?

Kylie Logan has a degree in English, experience as a journalist and writing teacher, and lots of ideas about interesting ways to kill people. When she's not writing, she knits,  weaves, and keeps bees.  

She can usually be found with her amily and their two dogs, Ernie, an adorable Airedale, and Oscar, a Jack Russell rescue.

Kylie also writes cozy mysteries as Casey Daniels (Pepper Martin Mysteries) and Miranda Bliss (Cooking Class Mysteries).

Primm and Proper: A Place Called Home

by special guest Diane Vallere. 

Photo: Josh Hickman

After two decades working for a top luxury retailer, Diane Vallere traded fashion accessories for accessories to murder. 

Diane is the current vice president of Sisters in Crime, immediate past president of the Los Angeles chapter, and was co-chair of the 2015 California Crime Writers Conference. She also writes the bestselling Material Witness, Madison Night, and Style & Error Mysteries. She started her own detective agency at age ten and has maintained a passion for shoes, clues, and clothes ever since. (http://www.dianevallere.com/)

When I first started thinking about the costume shop mysteries, the most important question became where would they be set? I already had series set in Pennsylvania, Texas, and California, the three states that I knew the best. I wasn’t in the mood to pick up and move someplace new, so that meant I had to get creative.

Requirements: a different state from one I’d already written about. One that was close enough that I could go to for inspiration and local flavor. And an area that I could re-imagine with a fictional town. It was with those requirements in mind that I looked at a map. Of the California-adjacent states, I chose Nevada. Back when I’d worked for the clearance division of a major retailer, the store manager of our Primm, Nevada store told me that you could walk to the end of their parking lot and stand with one foot in California and one foot in Nevada.

I’d never lived close to a state border, but that idea stuck in my mind. A little bit of research netted me another interesting fact: scofflaws from California often head for the Nevada border in order to avoid California jurisdiction. What a perfect place for a mystery series! And even better, once you cross the California state border, it’s forty miles to Vegas. That’s forty miles of desert and small town sandwiched between the golden state and sin city—the perfect spot for me to plunk down my community of costume-wearing residents.

I spent four days in and around Primm, exploring desert roads, local taverns, and mom-and-pop shops. I met a woman who claimed to communicate with the dead and sat in the chair Clark Gable sat in while waiting for Carole Lombard to return from a war tour (she didn’t return; her plane crashed close by where I’ve been told you can still find pieces of the wreckage). 

Away from the glitz and lure of gambling, I found people who didn’t care much that Las Vegas was only forty miles away. And that was the basis for Proper City, Nevada—not a replacement for Primm, but an additional town on the California/Nevada border, one that was named for a fictional prospector who gave up all of his vices when he struck gold. Find out more about Proper City, Nevada in A Disguise to Die For!

A Model by Any Other Name

by special guest Jean Flowers.


Making miniatures (models of life) and writing fiction (also models of life) have a lot in common.

On my workbench is a room box, newly crafted, waiting to be furnished. On my computer is my latest novel, newly crafted, waiting to be furnished.

Adding a descriptive passage to emphasize a point in a scene is like dropping that tiny string of pearls onto m'lady's dresser in the Victorian dollhouse mansion. Cutting a paragraph from a chapter in a novel translates into removing a too-large scatter rug that overpowers the rest of the kitchen furnishings in a modern dollhouse.

I change a verb for a more powerful statement; I change the draperies in the dollhouse dining room for the same reason.

For a miniature scene or room box, after I choose the colors and assemble the pieces, I leave it on my workbench for a while, living with it, looking at it from different angles over the course of a week or so, to be sure all the elements fit together nicely. Only when a particular design has stood the test of time, do I glue all the parts in place.

I do the same for my novels, leaving each chapter or day's work to sit for a while. When I come back later, I see the flaws. I notice phrases or sentences or plot elements that don't work well together, and make the changes. Only then do I consider it "finished" and metaphorically glue it in place.

I have the most fun when I can combine my two favorite crafts, making miniature scenes and writing mystery novels. At writing conferences and meetings I donate miniature scenes for charity auctions, often including miniature replicas of books that are featured on the panels.

In each case—making a miniature scene or writing a novel—I'm creating a model of reality, a fictional world where things can be easier and often make more sense than in the life-size world.

Both endeavors also involve cheating!

When I put a roof on a dollhouse I don't have to worry about the materials really being weatherproof. Dollhouse admirers assume all will be well if it rains. When I move my characters about in a novel, I'm not concerned about filling their cars with gas or giving them a rest stop on a long journey. Readers assume the mundane things are being taken care of.

In the world of dollhouses, there's no laundry to do, and a houseful of carpeting can be changed in a matter of minutes. In my mystery novels, the good guys always win and justice is always served.

What could be more satisfying?

Here's my latest miniature project: a post office, to go with my latest novels, the Postmistress Mysteries.

Although Cassie Miller, Postmistress in a small western Massachusetts town works in a colonial style building, this log cabin style struck me as quintessential US post office housing, and I can imagine Cassie visiting it, helping a fellow postmistress stuff the PO boxes on the right. Never mind that they're a cheat—simply a printout of a photo of post office boxes.

Christmas Town and the Essence of a Cozy Mystery

by special guest Vicki Delany.

The essence of a cozy mystery, as I see it, is real life, with some components stretched and exaggerated for effect.

Cozy writers take the things we love – families, friends, hobbies, crafts, even places – and write them with a loving hand to be slightly larger than life. And then, we thrust murder and sometimes mayhem into the mix.

When it comes to real life, is there anything we love more than Christmas?

The food, the decorations, the lights, the gifts, maybe even the weather. Above all the love of family and friends, and the enjoyment of celebrating with them.

In Rudolph, New York, they love Christmas so much they celebrate if all year round. And no one loves the holiday more than Merry Wilkinson, owner of Mrs. Claus’s Treasures, on Rudolph’s main
street, Jingle Bell Lane. Merry’s father, Noel, is the town’s Santa Claus. Merry knows her dad isn’t really Santa, but sometimes she does wonder how he knows what people want before they so much as say so.

Another element of the cozy is often ambition or competition out of control (or perhaps just more out in the open than it is in real life). And Rudolph, New York, is determined to beat out Snowflake, Arizona or North Pole, Alaska to be officially known as America’s Christmas Town.

In the first book in the new series, Rest Ye Murdered Gentlemen, when a reporter from an international travel magazine arrives in town to write an article on Rudolph, under the headline of America’s Christmas town, hopes are high for the future of the town.

But it wouldn’t be a cozy without a murder. And it wouldn’t be Christmas Town without poisoned gingerbread, a sleigh-full of suspects, and an amateur sleuth determined to see that the right person ends up on Santa’s naughty list.

Real life, writ large, with a touch of murder thrown in.


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Vicki Delany began her writing career as a Sunday writer: a single mother of three high-spirited daughters with a full-time job as a computer programmer. Sunday afternoon was – and at that, only now and again – the only time she had to spend all by herself, with a single candle on her desk for a bit of atmosphere, a Bruce Springsteen tape in the tape deck, and a nice cup of tea at her elbow.
When she felt like really letting loose, the tea might have turned into a glass of wine.
In 2007, Vicki took early retirement from her job as a systems analyst with a major bank and sold her house in Oakville, Ontario.  
Settling in Prince Edward County, Ontario,after travelling around North America for a year with her dog, Shenzi, Vicki has continued with her writing career, publishing books in several differentsub-genres as well as a book for adults with low literacy skills.

How to Write a Haunted House; Or How to Haunt a Mystery

by special guest Leigh Perry.

The Family Skeleton series mysteries are my first mysteries, but not really. Under the name Toni L.P. Kelner I’ve published eleven novels and twenty-somthing short stories, and have co-edited six urban fantasy anthologies with New York Times best seller Charlaine Harris. I’ve adopted a pen name Toni L.P. Kelner’s books, you might like the Family Skeleton series, too. If you don’t like Kelner’s books, forget I said anything — I never even heard of that Kelner woman.

Though I was born in Pensacola, FL and raised in Charlotte, NC, I’ve been living north of Boston, MA for 26 years or so. I share the house with my husband, two daughters, two guinea pigs, and a ludicrous selection of books. While the population of people and guinea pigs stays constant, the number of books is on an ever-rising curve.*

Early on in the process of writing The Skeleton Haunts a House, I decided it was going to be set in and around a haunted house—meaning the Halloween season kind with fake ghosts and gore, not actual spirits. So I did a fair amount of research into how a haunted house is put together and run. Not only did I want to get the background details and jargon right, I actually wanted to lay out my fictional haunted house so I could bring it to life. (Not quite in a mad scientist bringing the monster to life kind of way, but sort of like that.)
I worked in a haunted house myself back in high school, and my original plan was to have my fictional house set up the same way, with random creepy sets and costumed spooks throughout the house. It turns out that industry standards have evolved a great deal since then. These days a haunted house is very much a carefully designed experience.

The starting point is the venue. Is it an old house, a theater, a cornfield, a amusement park, a hayride, or even an abandoned location like a hospital or prison. You can haunt just about anything. The best haunted house venue I’ve ever heard of is Burg Frankenstein, near Darmstadt in Germany. It’s rumored to have been an inspiration for Mary Shelly’s book Frankenstein, and there’s been a Halloween festival there since 1978.

Since my book was going to be set in Pennycross, a small Massachusetts college town, I couldn’t legitimately plant a set of castle ruins in the middle of town, or even on the outskirts. Instead I decide to sneak in an unused class building onto the grounds of McQuaid University, where my protagonist Georgia Thackery works. To give it some gravitas, I called it McQuaid Hall, but for Halloween, it becomes McHades Hall.

Once the venue is set, I gave my haunted house a theme. You see, the really modern haunted houses have themes that inform the details of the designs. I could have gone with haunted toy store, creepy carnival, post-apocalyptic nightmare, insane asylum, hospital of the damned, and on and on. Since I already had an academic setting, I ran with that: McHades Hall would be college-themed. (The fact that my daughter is starting to look at colleges had no influence in my view of a campus as intensely frightening.)

Even with a creepy college as a starting point, I had plenty of latitude to put together the actual scare areas and to staff them with a wide variety of scare actors. (Scare areas and scare actors are industry terms, but they’re pretty self-explanatory.) This is where I got a little fast-and-loose with the themes. I mean, for history classes I had Countess Bathory, the Black Death, and Jack the Ripper. Technically historical, but not what I studied in college. (Though Harvard used to have a great class about the repercussions of the Black Death.) For English, it was characters from The Exorcist, The Shining and Psycho. Good books to be sure, but probably better known for And I never had one single chemistry prof turn into a werewolf. (Of course, I only had daytime chem lab...)

Of course, scare actors don’t just stand around and look horrifying. They have to be doing horrifying things. The zombie frat boys have to chase you, the cannibalistic cafeteria workers have to threaten you, and if anybody is just standing around, it’s a trick to lull you into a false sense of security until they jump at you. While there’s a certain amount of ad-libbing for the scare actors, in general they do have lines to say and blocking, as in any kind of theater.

Of course, all that stuff is what the customers see. (I was hoping to find an industry-specific name for people-who-come-through-haunted-houses, but customer is all I could find. Couldn’t they at least be scare customers?) Since I wanted some behind-the-scenes plotting, I had to figure out what it looks like behind the scenes. That’s when I found out that most haunts have a host of hidden paths and passages to get around the house. They line the rooms with a fabric called scrim, so they can hide behind and look out, but you can’t see them. Now that is mystery-writing gold!

For the final touch of authenticity, I used some of the wisdom accumulated by hundreds of scare actors.

Watch out for hitters! Apparently some people lash out when they’re frightened.

If you hear somebody’s name, tell the other scare actors so they can use it. It’s scary for anybody in a zombie suit to chase you, but even worse when they make it personal.

Never do a gag with a noose. People have died that way. That is not an urban legend. Scare actors have accidentally strangled themselves.

Nobody can resist a chainsaw. Apparently the bravest of customers is prone to losing it when somebody comes after them with a chainsaw. And if you think the chainsaw is an amazingly realistic prop, think again. It’s probably a real chainsaw. They take the chain off, but I still wouldn’t grab hold of one.

Once I had all my pieces in place, I could start plotting the actual sections of The Skeleton Haunts a House that take place in McHades Hall. And it occurred to me that the process is a lot like designing a haunted house.

· Venue = Setting. I started out with the town of Pennycross.

· Theme = Genre. It’s a murder mystery in which Georgia Thackery, an adjunct English professor and single mother, solves crimes with the help of her best friend Sid. Did I mention that Sid is an ambulatory skeleton?

· Scare actors = Characters. In addition to Georgia and Sid, we have Georgia’s daughter Madison, her sister Deborah, her parents, her friends Brownie and Charles, and plenty of others.

· Action = Plot. As with most mysteries, we start with the finding the body and then progress through investigation until Georgia and Sid find the killer. And along the way, there’s some romance and secrets and what I hope are surprise twists.

· Behind-the-Scenes = Red Herrings. I have to walk that tight-walk between not being about to figure out the murderer right away while having it all make sense in the end.

· Authenticity = Authenticity. Of course, I wanted to make sure the haunted house stuff was realistic, but I also have to make sure the university runs like a real university. The same for the carnival that comes to town, and the police procedures.

I hope that once it all comes together, The Skeleton Haunts a House has some of the same excitement and thrills as a haunted house. That’s the plan, anyway.

Maybe I should have put in a chainsaw.

*from Leigh Perry's website