Serendipity

Those of you who have been following my blog know that my humorous memoir, A Dead Tomato Plant and a Paycheck, is based on the weekly column I used to write for the Plano Star Courier, an upscale Dallas Suburban newspaper. My husband and I raised five children, and one of the things that helped us face the challenges of a large family was having a sense of humor. Being able to laugh can pretty well diffuse any situation, although the humor might not always be apparent right away. Some things have to age somewhat before they take on comic proportions.

Writing the column was actually the beginning of my professional career and the column became quite popular. I was known as the Erma Bombeck of Plano and it was fun to be famous and recognized at the grocery store - unless it was the day I ran to the store in my oldest shorts, my hair in a mess and with no make-up.

I say all that as a prelude to what happened yesterday. My husband and I, and our oldest son who was visiting from Austin, went to a community theatre production here in East Texas yesterday afternoon. The guys elected to sit in the row ahead of me. Don't ask me why.  I did shower. I promise.

Anyway, I sat down next to a lady and gave her a little nod in greeting. "Pardon me," she said to me. "Your name wouldn't happen to be Maryann would it?"

I was thinking maybe she recognized me from one of the plays I had been in at that theatre, so I smiled and said, "Yes."

 Then she said, "I thought that was you. I recognized you from when you used to write for the Plano paper. I loved your column. I looked forward to it every week."

She said some other nice things about my writing, but quite honestly, I was so stunned that she recognized me after all these years, I didn't quite hear it all.  She saw past the wrinkles and gray hair of today and saw that much younger me that used to smile next to my column every week.

Wow. Made my day.

What about you? Has anyone "made your day" lately?

Book Review: Final Approach by Rachel Brady

Thanks to Carl Brookins for providing another review of an interesting mystery. Enjoy....

Final Approach  By Rachel Brady
Poisoned Pen Press,
HC, 250 pg, October, 2009
ISBN: 9781590586556

A fine debut novel with an unusual plot line.  Emily Locke is recovering from the loss of her husband and infant daughter.  It is clear from the get-go there is something askew in that whole incident.  Now four years later, the detective who was disgraced and dismissed from the local police department as fall-out from that calamity is back in Emily's life.  He wants her help on a case he's working on.

A leap of faith is required of readers here.  Is she the only person in the country the detective can count on to infiltrate a questionable sky-diving club located over a thousand miles away?

And why is Emily so available?  After all she has a full-time job and is still pretty fragile from the loss of her daughter and husband.  Still, the detective, not her favorite person, presses the right buttons and off she goes to Texas.

What follows is a tension-filled emotional novel of exquisite detail about sky-diving in all the right places, introduction of necessary and useful characters and enough action to satisfy the most ardent thriller aficionado. Emily is strong and distressed at all the right places, there are no real down sections of the novel.

This is a fast read and although some of the danger Emily faces doesn't reach my punch level, Emily is an interesting woman and the sky-diving is an unusual platform on which to build a crime novel. 

One of the more interesting aspects of Final Approach is that readers will, from the beginning, feel as though they have been brought into an ongoing story. There is occasionally a feeling of the need to catch up with background as a way to evaluate current happenings.  It's a style that adds to the tension and pace.  A satisfying novel with a fine twist at the end.

Carl Brookins
www.carlbrookins.com, www.agora2.blogspot.com
Case of the Greedy Lawyer, Devils Island,
Bloody Halls, more at Kindle & Smashwords!

Friday's Odds and Ends

In a recent letter to the editor in The Dallas Morning News the writer commented that the members of the Tea Party cannot be racist because many of the members are the same people who marched with Martin Luther King. Wait a minute. That would make them as old as I am-- I marched - but I am a good 20 years older than the mean age of the Tea Party members. Hmmmm. Guess I'm not the only one challenged by math.

Five couples at a Dallas-area assisted living celebrated Golden Anniversaries in a shared ceremony to renew vows after 50 years of commitment. Sweet.

Normally I enjoy the comic strip, Blondie, but a recent one had a message I questioned. In the first panel Blondie is crying and Dagwood wants to make her feel better. He tells her to go shopping and not to worry about how much she spends. The next  panel has her calling from the mall to tell him how much better she feels. So going shopping is the answer to having the blues? And we should spend however much it takes to make us feel better? No wonder people have humongous credit-card debt.

And I couldn't let Hayward get away without a comment. It's official. He will be leaving BP in October with a $1 million bonus, plus $900,000 per year retirement. Oh, poor man. He now has to move on to a lucrative job with a company in Russia.  Meanwhile, businesses along the Gulf are dying.

Just for Fun

Since I am busy this week with the Youth Drama Camp at the art center in town, I thought I would let my friend Tracy entertain you today. Enjoy:


Just in case you haven't been keeping up with the news lately, the U.S. - Mexico border is not the only place immigration officials are trying to secure.

To our north, illegal Dougs are seeping across the border at an unprecedented rate, and our federal government seems unable to do anything about it, or they are choosing to turn a blind eye to the situation. Either way, illegal Dougs are here in America, and if we don't do something about them soon, it will be too late.

The illicit Doug trade began to boom two decades ago when American parents stopped naming their children "Doug" or "Douglas." The Canadian underworld saw its chance to profit from this and built Doug farms where pregnant girls are paid money to name their new boy babies "Doug." Once the Dougs mature, they are smuggled across the border to find jobs in retail, thus taking jobs away from Americans.

To read the rest of the story hop over to Tracy's BLOG    It is worth the trip, trust me.

Doing the Right Thing?

Okay, so Bristol and Livi are finally getting married. Bristol Palin and Livi Johnston, that is. This is so they can raise their son, Tripp, who was born out of wedlock, with a mother and a father in the same house. Oh, goody. Who cares if the father has posed for Playgirl? Does it matter that the couple is notorious for their fighting? And what about the reality show they want to start? Will it be like reruns of "Father Knows Best?" Or will it focus on all the sordid details of their relationship, while this innocent child sits in the middle of all this mess?

I'm sorry. I'm trying to be happy that they are finally "doing the right thing," but I am not so sure it is the right thing.

Having children first is becoming more and more popular, and a recent column by Georgie Anne Geyer talked about the proud unwed mothers and fathers who display their children before the world. What is wrong with these young people? These babies are not like those cute little purse dogs that are also gaining in popularity. These are children who will be severely impacted by the behavior of their parents and the decisions made by them, and that impact has more consequences than just a problem of an untrained dog.

Don't they get that? Has having babies out of wedlock  become the latest fad?

Reports from the Centers for Disease Control show a huge jump in the percentage of teen boys who say it is okay to have children and not be married. Statistics from the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy also showed a significant change in attitudes. The percentage of boys who say they do not have sexual relations with a girl for fear of pregnancy fell from 25 percent to 12 percent.

Shame, shame on a society that devalues something so precious as the gift of life.

Mystery Book Review

Thanks again to Carl Brookins for sharing his book reviews with us.


Death in West Wheeling 
Michael Dymmoch
Five Star Mysteries, Hardcover,
182 pages, Hardcover, $25.95
IBN1594144583

Who knew author Michael Dymmoch, who has written such solid noir mysteries as "White Tiger," "The Fall" and "M.I.A.", could put together such a funny, even hilarious novel as this one, set in a small town in West Virginia, or somewhere close by?  Homer Deter is currently acting sheriff and he has to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a teacher at a local missionary school.

This case is just the start of something bigger.  Before long, Acting Sheriff Deter is faced with three more disappearances, an odd-acting ATF agent in search of illicit stills, a few apparently random  motor vehicle accidents, and including a twenty-three car pileup right in the middle of town.  And the funny thing is, all these incidents eventually connect.  That even includes the full-grown escaped tiger locked in the post office.

Author Dymmoch has some trenchant things to say about relationships between men and women, and about the state of our society.  It's all wrapped in fine writing, a really excellent if skewed sense of our society, and some dandy plotting.  Pick up this good short novel.  You'll be glad you did.

Carl Brookins
www.carlbrookins.com, www.agora2.blogspot.com
Case of the Greedy Lawyer, Devils Island,
Bloody Halls, more at Kindle & Smashwords! 

Friday's Odds and Ends

I'm starting something new on the blog. Since Fridays for me are all about tying up all the odds and ends of my week and making sure I got everything done, I came up with the idea of doing an odds and ends piece every Friday. Basically it will be just little bits of absurdities, maybe a touch of humor here and there, and anything else I want to throw in there.

First off, I want to say how irritating voice mail can be. Do you remember when we were able to dial a number and talk to a real person? Some mail systems are so bad you can get in an endless loop and never connect to a real person.

Yesterday, I had three calls to make to follow up on some business and I wanted to get that out of the way first thing. Voice mail all around. So I left messages. No call backs by late afternoon, which means I did not get to mark those items off my to-do list.

It also really irritates me when people do not respond to an e-mail request.  Part of my day job involves asking businesses if they want to advertise with WinnsboroToday.com. and since we are Online, much of that contacting is done via e-mail. I've had people contact me about rates and we may trade a few e-mails back and forth discussing options, then they don't respond to my final e-mail asking if they want the ad. If they decided not to, you would think they would at least have the courtesy to say so.

On a more serious note, I read yesterday about North Korea issuing a warning to the U.S. and South Korea to cancel the planned joint war-games or face serious retaliation. Didn't we already fight that war?

That's all for today. I've got a few other odds and ends to catch up on, like those three phone calls from yesterday.

What a Surprise

Actually, not such a surprise. Most of us already realize that common sense does not seem all that common in Washington.

That came to mind today when I read the following news item:

"Government watchdogs are telling a Senate panel that the Obama administration's multibillion effort to help at-risk homeowners avoid foreclosure is not working and could put the economic recovery at risk. Special inspector general for the financial bailouts Neil Barofsky said Wednesday that the program has not "put an appreciable dent in foreclosure filings," during a hearing on the $700 billion bank bailout before the Senate Finance Committee. He also said the Treasury Department has ignored earlier demands that it set clearer goals for the program."



I remember when this bank bailout first occurred, I  asked why the money had not been given directly to the homeowners who could then have paid their mortgages? To me it was a win-win situation. The banks would still have received  an influx of money to help their financial situations and homes could have been saved.

When I mentioned my idea to my husband, pointing out the simple logic, I also wondered why some one in government who was outlining the plans had not thought of it. My husband laughed and reminded me that most of the folks in Washington don't seem to operate on simple logic. 

What do you think? I my logic just too simple? After all, I am a writer, not an economist.

YUCK!!

In looking for news items to post on WinnsboroToday.com, this morning, I ran across this from Fex News:

" Indonesia's top Islamic body declared Tuesday that Muslims can drink civet coffee — the world's most expensive coffee, which is extracted from the dung of civet cats.

A preacher recently suggested the beverage might not be "halal" — or religiously approved — because its unusual provenance makes it unclean. But after a long discussion Tuesday, the influential Indonesian Ulema Council said that the coffee, known locally as Kopi Luwak, could be consumed as long as the beans were washed.

Kopi Luwak, which takes it name from the Indonesian word for civets, is made from hard beans that have been eaten by the nocturnal critters and then fermented in their stomachs before being pooped out and roasted. Civet cats are mongoose-like animals.

It's highly prized for its smooth flavor and bitterless aftertaste, sometimes fetching well over $200 a pound."

I thought I had read it wrong when I saw the coffee is made from cat poop.  While I am quite a cat lover, I draw the line at drinking something made from their poop. Or any other animal's poop for that matter.

What about you? Would you try it?

Honey, please don't call me Sweetie....

That was the headline for a column in The Dallas Morning News yesterday that was written by a 90-year-old woman, Helen Mitchell.

The point of her column was that nurses and medical staff often refer to the older patients as Sweetie, Honey, or Darling during exams, x-rays and other medical procedures. She acknowledges that the intent is not be be patronizing or condescending. "You're just trying to be nice and you think that just because I am old and weak and sometimes in a wheelchair that I'm fragile or delicate - like a child.

"But I'm not a child."

I remember hearing similar sentiments from patients when I was working in a large hospital as a chaplain. The patients often asked me why medical staff has a tendency to do that. Like Mrs. Mitchell said -- I can't refer to her as Helen as she did not give me permission to - I don't think people realize that using those endearments is anything but endearing. When staff was open to it, I would suggest that perhaps they rethink that approach to the older patients. Sometimes that worked and sometimes it didn't.

Now that I have a few more wrinkles and a little more gray in my hair, I'm experiencing the same thing sometimes, and I cringe inside when I hear it. I also don't like to be called by my first name by everyone in a doctor's office, especially on a first visit. If I must call you doctor or nurse, then you can call me Mrs. Miller. After we have established a rapport, then I may give you permission to call me Maryann.

Here is a LINK to the full article by Mrs. Mitchell. Well worth the read.

What do you think about this issue? Or is it even an issue for you?

Summertime Blues

 It's been a while since I posted an excerpt from my humorous memoir, A Dead Tomato Plant and a Paycheck, so here is another offering from the chapter Summertime Blues. Yes, Swimming Does Count as Bathing.  Enjoy....

When I was writing my weekly humor column for a suburban newspaper, it was always a challenge each year to come up with something to write about the summer break from school that wasn’t just a rehash of past columns. I thought maybe people were getting tired of my “I hate Summer” columns, but a friend assured me otherwise.

“No, Maryann,” she said. “You’ve got to keep writing this. If you suddenly started loving the summer break, that would leave the rest of us looking like the worst mothers on earth. So accept the gauntlet, carry the flag, give us a game plan.”

How could I refuse?

I worked for two weeks on a plan I thought was perhaps the best summer vacation survival guide ever, but it only took two days for my kids to destroy it.


The shining glory of said game plan, which I considered definitive, succinct, and perhaps worthy of someday being etched in stone, were my edicts:

Thou shalt not wake up the household before eight o'clock in the morning.

“But you didn't say I couldn't sing."

 Thou shalt not fight.

"This isn't a fight. It's a police action."

I guess I should have covered more bases. I amended that edict to read:  Thou shalt not fight or engage in any sort of skirmish, duel, war or uprising. That should be clear enough for them.

Thou shalt not bother me with trivial details when I'm working.

"Grandma just called from Detroit. But I told her you were too busy to talk."

Thou shalt complete all chores before noon.

"Mom, your bed's not made and its twelve-o-one."

Thou shalt co-operate.

"We are co-operating. David's helping me get this Twinkie away from Michael."

Once the fun of breaking edicts was over, there was nothing left but this deep pit of boredom. We dipped so low, we were reduced to inane activities such as conducting a contest to see who had the most mosquito bites in unusual places.  (You do not want to know the details of who won.)

Then we endured 14 hours of Love Boat reruns with a test afterward to see who could remember the most lines of dialogue.

And this was the shining example my friend thought I could be?

Sex Eduction for Kindergartners?

Recent news reports about schools in Montana that are considering adopting a sex ed course for early elementary students have been flying around the Internet. This latest on the topic was on FoxNews.com: 

 "According to the 62-page draft proposal, beginning in kindergarten, school nurses will teach students proper terms such as "nipple, breast, penis, scrotum and uterus." Once they are promoted to first grade, children will learn that sexual relations could happen between two men or two women. By the time students are 10 years old, instruction will include the various ways people can have intercourse, be it vaginally, orally or through anal penetration."

I've tried to ignore this story, hoping people would come to their senses and it would just go away, but apparently it isn't going to.  The school superintendent of the Helena school district is pushing for the curriculum, saying that the schools share a responsibility for making sure children are informed about the risks of certain behaviors.

Opponents of the plan sharply criticize the idea of giving such specific details about sexual acts to children as young as ten.

I've got to say I am on their side.

There seems to be no childhood anymore. No time of innocence.  Children are exposed to too much, too soon in regards to sex and sexual activity. If children below the age of 10 were not battered with sexual content and sexual images all around them, maybe their natural curiosity about such things would wait until they were a little older and better able to process the information. 

And this type of detailed sex education belongs in the home, to the parents, who are the best judge of when their child is ready for it.

What do you think?

Lessons Learned

A long time ago I was privileged to be one of the people selected to attend a series of screenwriting classes taught by Joe Camp and his partner Erwin Hearne, of "Benji"  fame.   Joe, a principle behind Mulberry Square Productions in Dallas, was riding high on the success of the Benji films and wanted to encourage new writing talent in the area.

One of the things I learned from those classes, that still stays with me, is to tell the story with visuals. Don't rely on dialogue to propel the story line. He challenged us to write an opening scene of a story with little or no dialogue. I remember that exercise every time I am writing a scene, and I know I am a better screenwriter because of it.

Now, many years later I am reading his latest book, Who Needs Hollywood, and being reminded again of the lessons learned at that series of classes. I like his simple approach to plotting "set up a must and a series of can'ts." The central character has something he or she needs to accomplish and here are the obstacles in the way.

In a way, that is an accurate description of the  story of the making of "Benji." Joe was driven to make that movie. He describes it almost like an obsession, and there were plenty of problems and disappointments before a single camera ever started to roll.

That is also true for many other filmmakers and writers. With only a few, rare exceptions, the road to success is not a straight, unencumbered one. I've stopped counting the times I have been within an inch of some big break, only to have the opportunity slip away, and I'm sure the same is true for most of my writer friends.

What about you?  What has your road been like?

Mushrooms Growing in my Pasture

When I was cleaning my small pasture this morning I noticed these mushrooms. Needless to say I put the shovel down and went to get my camera before my horse could step on the mushrooms and squash them. This one looks like a little cap that a child might have for a doll.

I've seen lots of white mushrooms around, but these are the first orange ones. I didn't even notice that little baby mushroom in the first picture until I loaded it in my computer to 'play' with it. And that second orange mushroom has the most interesting companion.

This next one looks like it has mold growing on it. When I first saw it, I thought it was some excess fur from our cream-colored cat, John. I do find bits and pieces of him stuck to brambles and berry vines all over our property.

This last one looks to me like it was made out of delicate lace.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Book Review - Mood Swings To Murder

 Here is another book review by Carl Brookins.

Mood Swings To Murder
Author: Jane Isenberg
Publisher: Avon Books, PBO
December 2000
ISBN: 0-380-80282-1

This is the third book in a series about an English teacher in the New Jersey college system. Bel Barrett teaches for a community college in Hoboken, a great platform for a variety of stories, because she'll encounter older students, some with families, and some with jobs, situations that can give rise to problems not usually encountered by more traditional, full-time students.

The previous books are "The M Word" and "Death in a Hot Flash."   Jane Isenberg, is a veteran urban college teacher and she writes with authority, wit, and a sure sense of her environment. She also understands the processes of female aging. Her protagonist is Bel Barrett who finds it impossible to ignore student problems outside the classroom, and who also spends a lot of energy worrying about her two grown children.

She is abetted by two women who seem to have more time on their hands to deal with Bel's murder cases than is usual. One is a fiery private investigator, which solves one continuing problems for any amateur sleuth, that of access to various agency records and actions. The two friends provide Bel, who has a pretty full schedule, with assistance and reassurances. Bel has a pregnant daughter in Seattle and a son on the East Coast, both of whom seem to be less than fully settled--in their mother's view, anyway, and the two women offer a level of sanity and judicious advice.

This story has an unusual plot line. It concerns the murder of a Frank Sinatra impersonator, one of several who seem to litter the Hoboken landscape. Bel, her friends and other hangers on, including Bel's mother, are swept up in Bel's attempt to figure out who killed Louie Palumbo and why. One of Isenberg's strengths is the clever and logical ways she involves Bel in murder investigations. In this case, she and lover Sol, out for a romantic stroll literally stumble across the body.

Two sub-plots are nicely handled. Bel's relationships with her sometimes-live-in son and her now pregnant daughter have no bearing on the main plot but they do add dimension and reality to the characters. All in all, in spite of an abundance of angst and soul-searching in place of action and suspense, this is another worthy outing, an American cozy with a little bit of bite mixed with mystery and eccentricity.


Carl Brookins
www.carlbrookins.com, www.agora2.blogspot.com
Case of the Greedy Lawyer, Devils Island,
Bloody Halls, more at Kindle & Smashwords!

Doing the Right Thing

One time when I was riding in the car with my father late at night, he stopped at a red light and waited until it turned green even though there was no traffic coming the other way. We were way out in the country and had not seen another car for an hour. I asked him why he didn't just go through the light, and he said "because I shouldn't."

Perhaps that was a little silly.  Who, besides me, was going to know that he stopped or didn't stop. But it was important to him to do the right thing, even when it may seem silly.  That was just part of his makeup. Do the right thing even when nobody is looking.

Personal responsibility.

In today's world it seems like there is less personal responsibility and more reliance on laws to protect our well-being.  Every time there is a catastrophe, we turn  to the government to fix it. Pass a law to regulate tobacco. Pass a law to regulate the amount of fat in food. Pass a law to make people wear seat belts. 

Wouldn't it be nice if people took more responsibility for their well-being, and the government could then focus on what government should be doing? What do you think?

Awards and other stuff

I love having company. When our whole family gets together we have a great time. We eat lots of delicious food that everyone pitches in to prepare. We play lots of games. If weather permits we go to the lake and play in the water. We eat more delicious food....

That was pretty much the scenario at Grandma's Ranch the past five days. Most of our kids and grandkids came to celebrate the Fourth and my birthday.

We had our own fireworks show and I had fun taking pictures. I love my camera that has a setting just for fireworks.

Since I was so busy with family, I was not online much and didn't notice right away that Helen Ginger, who writes a great blog Straight From Hel gave me an award. She passed on the "You Are My Sunshine Award to five bloggers who brighten my day with their posts, their blogs, and their comments."

First I want to thank Helen for giving me the award. It is quite an honor, and now I will now pass it on to a few bloggers who brighten my day...

Mary at Giggles and Guns

Mason at Thoughts In Progress

Tracy at I'm Just a Guy

Elizabeth at Mystery Writing is Murder

Ginger at Dishin' It Out

I hope you enjoy my friends as much as I do.

The Real Alice in Wonderland

Cathy Rubin co-author of The Real Alice in Wonderland contacted me recently with an interesting bit of trivia.

American Independence Day and Alice in Wonderland share the same birthday. So, I not only share my birthday with my country, I share it with a timeless story.

According Cathy, Friday July 4, 1862 is credited with the first time Lewis Carroll told Alice Liddell and her sisters the story of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.  It was shortly after the first telling of Carroll’s story that Alice began to urge the author to write it down for her.

I've been intrigued by this book since I first heard about it, so I went to Cathy's Web site to get more information about how and why she came to write this book. 
"In 2007, my daughter’s school  selected  Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland for Book Day.  My daughter Gabriella remembered we had a connection to the Liddell family.  Alice Liddell inspired Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll) to write the original story.  At this point I knew very little about Alice Liddell’s story other than what my grandmother and my great aunt Phil Liddell had told me about her when I was a child.   Gabriella bugged me to help her research the story. You could say we jumped down the rabbit hole together. It took us several months to research the content for our Book Day workshop  which we called The Real Alice In Wonderland. After we presented the workshop to Gabriella’s school and other groups we were encouraged by educators, friends and family to turn our story  into a film or book.  The book as you can see came first!"


Like many other readers, I did not know that Lewis Carroll wrote about a real  person. It was interesting to find out a bit about her:   

Alice Liddell was born into a privileged, academic family on May 4, 1852.  She was the fourth child of Henry and Lorina Liddell.  Her father, one of the most prominent educators of his day, was the Dean of Christ Church College, Oxford University.  Alice was home schooled by some of Oxford University’s finest tutors.  She was a bright child with significant artistic talents.  Alice was also known to be free-spirited (largely due to her never-ending curiousity about everything).   She grew up to become a beautiful and cultured young woman.  Her beauty inspired many distinguished photographers and artists such as Charles Dodgson, Julia Margaret Cameron and Sir William Blake Richmond.  She also inspired the devotion of many suitors including Prince Leopold, Queen Victoria’s youngest son.  In 1880, she married a wealthy landowner, Reginald Hargreaves, with whom she had three sons.

So, I wish a Happy Birthday to the gool ol' U. S. A. and to the wonderful story of Alice and the rabbit hole.

Special Surprise Tomorrow

The Fourth of July is my birthday. For years I thought all the fireworks and picnics and parades were just for me, and, boy, did I feel important. Then I found out that 99.99 percent of the American public was celebrating Independence Day, and just my family cared about my birthday.

When I matured, just last year, I got over the disappointment and was thrilled to share my birthday with America. I get tingly all over when I hear "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy."

Just this week, I found out I share my birthday with another significant event. Perhaps not as important as the independence of a nation, but still pretty significant.

I know this is a big holiday weekend here in the States, but if you have time and are interested, stop by tomorrow and discover the surprise. It's a good one.

Exciting News

I just received a message informing me that the cover for my book, PLAY IT AGAIN SAM has won the June Classic Cover Contest at the ClassicRomanceRevival Web site.

As the site name implies, it promotes novels of the more classic romance style in varying degrees of "sweet" "sexy" and "sensual." The authors affiliated with that site write the kinds of books that were popular when romances first took publishing by storm.

Winning this is a thrill, and I am glad that the book will get some extra exposure because of the win. It is a special story about love the second time around and was inspired by what happened to a good friend when her husband of 25 years decided he didn't want to be married anymore.

However, I am even more excited for my daughter, Dany Russell, who designed the cover. This win is as much for her as it is for me. Actually, probably more, since it is her work being honored. I am so happy for her.


http://www.classicromancerevival.com/classic-cover.html

A Little Clarification on Separation of Church and State

Right up front, let me say that this post is not intended to stir a debate about religion, forms of religion, or which religion is the best. My personal beliefs are that everyone is entitled to believe, or not believe, and one right does not trump another.

That said, I do want to talk about the separation of church and state. People who want to remove all mention of a god or higher power from schools, public buildings, government and society in general use the First Amendment to the Constitution as their rallying point. But if you read that amendment carefully, you will note that the words "separation of church and state" do not appear. The amendment prohibits "an establishment of religion."  That means no national mandated or tax supported church.

At the time the amendment was written, most of the states had their own official churches and the federal government was not to impose a national official church, like England has the Church of England. Later, the states did away with official state churches, thus establishing a true freedom of religion.

If only we could all honor that.

Let's all be Mellow

I thought after slamming HOAs and talking about road rage, it would be a good idea to focus on something pretty and relaxing.

In Texas we have some of the most spectacular cloud formations I have ever seen. And the sky can go on forever, giving this amazing "postcard" view of the clouds. At sunrise and sunset, the colors can take your breath away.

Last night, as I was coming home from picking up some hay, I almost ran off the road when I saw the clouds along the eastern horizon. Of course, by the time I got home and ran in to get my camera, some of them had dissipated. Plus I didn't have the same vantage point I did when I was on a high point in the road. Not to mention the problem of  the trees that tend to get in the way. But I did get some shots and I hope you enjoy them.

A Double Whammy of Absurdities

First,  I thought the story about the woman in a suburb of Dallas who was told she had to get rid of the tree stump in her front yard was the most absurd news item I read this week. According to the report, the stump has been in her yard for about 15 years and the city just now cited her for it.  The stump is huge. In fact, her son carved part of it into a seat where she can sit and watch the birds and the rabbits who frequently visit. It is a special place for her but apparently, the city does not care. There is an ordinance against having a dead tree stump on private property.

Could we all say "private property?"

As absurd as that is, however, it pales next to the story about a Homeowners Association in Texas that foreclosed on the home of a soldier  because he was late in paying his dues. The soldier was serving in Iraq at the time and apparently his wife did not open the mail that had the notices that the HOA payment  was overdue. The dues were $977 and the HOA sent several notices that were not responded to. So they foreclosed on the house and sold it at auction for $3, 201 to a man who later sold it for $135,000.

The house was originally purchased for $315,000.

Those who support the Texas law that allows foreclosures for non payment of HOA dues say that foreclosing is the only way that HOAs can compel people to pay the annual dues and abide by the other rules.

That reasoning is so absurd the person who drafted it ought to be tarred and feathered.

What do you think?

Road Rage

Sometimes I wonder if there's a new element in the air making people crazy. I especially wonder when I find myself fighting an urge to do something stupid while I'm driving, like drag a car that's trying to pass me. (By the way, I lost. A Pontiac Vibe, even a very nice Pontiac Vibe, is no match for a Datsun 280-Z.)

That type of behavior is totally out of character for me as I am normally a very mild-mannered person. Some of my friends even call me Maryann Milquetoast.

But I'm beginning to understand Road Rage.

I get it when I'm tooling along the Interstate with my cruise set about seven above the posted speed limit. Then I glance in my rear-view mirror to see the grill of pickup truck bearing down on me like some wild beast straight out of Japanese animation.

Why does he wait until he's crawling up my bumper to pass? We're on a flat stretch of road for Pete's sake. He could clearly see my car while he was still a half a mile back; plenty of space and time to move over. But, no, he's got to practically crawl into my trunk just to let me know what he thinks of my lollygaging.

Road Rage also threatens when I get stuck in a construction area where two lanes are siphoned into one. Nobody likes the idea of a delay, but most folks simply sigh and get in line. But some folks think they don't have to. Despite the signs that have warned for a mile that the right lane is closed ahead, drivers zoom up to the flashing arrow and inch their way into the bottleneck.

Of course, they don't consider themselves a primary cause of the bottleneck. Hey, they've got places to go and people to see, and they're just making sure they get to their places faster than anyone else. Too bad for the fools who all dutifully lined up in the left lane.

As they force their way into the line, careful not to make eye contact, do they really think we don't know what they're thinking?

Years ago when I had a big Chevy van, I liked to straddle the line between the two lanes to prevent cars from slipping around me. I'd seen a Semi driver do this once and thought it was a nifty idea, but an eighteen-wheeler is a lot more imposing than a van.

I still had people try to squeeze past and we'd do this weird little road-dance familiar to racing fans who've watched drivers maneuver to keep a car from passing on the straight-away.

Keeping all the cars behind me did wonders for my blood pressure. I could feel it subsiding from near stroke level with every little giggle of delight. And I didn't even mind that the success had less to do with driving skill and more to do with the fact that I was driving a vehicle that wouldn't even notice another dent.

Of course, this isn't something I could try now. People no longer vent their frustration with severe pounding on their steering wheels. Now they pull a Colt 45.

What Happened to Customer Service?

Yesterday I was at  a Wal-Mart store to pick up a card table I had purchased in a Site-to-Store transaction. The store is almost 30 miles from our home, so my husband and I decided to make it an afternoon out, doing some other shopping, picking up the table, then going out to dinner.

This was my first experience with Site-to-Store transactions and I had no idea that getting the merchandise was harder than making a withdrawal from my bank. I went to the counter with my printed receipt and pick-up slip in hand and the clerk asked for a picture ID.

Oops, my drivers' license is in my car, which was still parked at home since we took the truck to pick up the table.

I didn't know I would need picture ID to pick up my table. And I will admit that that was my fault for not carefully reading the entire purchase agreement. But I still thought there had to be a way I would not be forced to drive 30 miles home, then 30 miles back to the story, then 30 miles back home again.  And I had the paid receipt and order number in my hand.  It's not like I just walked in and asked for the table that Maryann Miller had ordered. The clerk didn't even blink.  I had to prove my identity.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, so I asked to talk to a manager, who likewise would not budge. She said it was store policy so they would know the right person was picking up what was ordered.

When I asked how the "wrong" person would have the receipt and pick-up slip, they went on about how someone could hack into my computer and print out the slip. Like that would really happen for a $39.00 card table. 

I walked away so frustrated my husband offered to let me punch him. Since he had nothing to do with the mess, I passed.

What do you think? Is this a stupid policy or is it just my frustration making me think so?

Who Can Resist a Kitten?

Living out here in the country, we frequently have cats, kittens, puppies and dogs dropped off by people who no longer want them. This is a practice that we all wish would never happen. Do those people really think most of these animals stand a chance against hunger, coyotes who are hungry, and trucks that can come barreling down our county roads?

We, my husband and I, have acquired most of our cats via this dump-method, and we now have a kitten that may make cat number four for us. I am going to try to find her a home. Honest I am, but if that doesn't happen soon, well.....

She is a cute little kitten who misses her mother with an angst that is loud and persistent. She cried for five solid hours the first evening she showed up.

And our poor old dog, Misha, has had to put up with the kitten's attempts to find solace and sustenance in a "foster mother." I never knew this dog had so much patience.

Book Review- The Serpent Pool

One of my writer friends is kind enough to share his book reviews with me. Thanks to Carl for the following....


THE SERPENT POOL
By Martin Edwards
Published by Poisoned Pen Press,
February, 2010, Hard cover, 284 pgs.
ISBN: 978-1-59058-593-1

The author is experienced, long published. He has four mysteries in this, the Lake District police cases, featuring DCI Hannah Scarlett and historian Daniel Kind. I admit, ever since I was introduced to the Lake District through the excellent novels of Arthur Ransome, he of The Picts and Swallows, I’ve been a big fan of almost everything written by for and about the area.

Edwards has twelve novels and a sizable canon, plus he is a well-received critic and commentator. For those reasons I was somewhat disappointed by the long set of annoyances he as narrator has put forth. He appears to dislike the wealthy, attorneys, police funding, professional police administrators, the high-born and the low, plus a bunch of others. Too bad. His annoyances get in the way of the full enjoyment of a really well-conceived and rendered story.

DCI Hanna Scarlett, is still coping with her irascible lover and book dealer Marc Amos and her attraction to historian Daniel Kind. Kind, back in the district is the son of Hannah’s ex-boss. Hannah heads the local Cold Case squad looking at the seven year-old death of Emily Friend. Was it murder? Or suicide and does it matter after so many years? DCI Scarlett thinks so and she takes her upstanding sense of justice into a case that grows more and more complicated and closer to home than she care to contemplate.

It is often said that good mystery writing is founded on the careful and measured release of information to the reader. Martin is a master of the technique. Whether he writes about Hannah’s personal problems with the men in her life, the interesting murders of two book dealers/collectors in the immediate area, or the weather which can be depressing at times, the author maintains careful control. In most aspects, this is a novel that can be savored and fully enjoyed.


Carl Brookins
www.carlbrookins.com
www.agora2.blogspot.com
Case of the Greedy Lawyer, Devils Island, Bloody Halls

_____

Since Carl did not include the FCC disclaimer. I will disclaim that I profited in any way from this book or this review. Unless you factor in that I did not have to write my own blog today. Whatever that is worth.

States' Rights in Jeapordy?

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has indicated that she is ready to fight the federal lawsuit that will be filed challenging the immigration law passed in her state earlier this year.

In a statement issued late Friday, Brewer called the Obama Administration's decision "outrageous" but "not surprising."

The law, which takes effect July 29, requires officers to question a person's immigration status if there's a reasonable suspicion that he or she is in the country illegally. There have been at least five legal challenges filed against the law since April, alleging that Arizona's law will lead to racial profiling. The lawsuits also argue that it's the federal government's responsibility to regulate immigration.

The problem with that second argument is that the federal government has not been doing such a hot job with the problems along the Mexico/U.S. border, so what are the border states to do? Wait? Just like they did after Katrina and now after the oil spill?

There is a little thing in our Constitution called the 10th Amendment. It provides that “powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

"To the people." Do you all get that up there in Washington?

That means that the fishermen who would like to go out and help clean up the oil in the Gulf should be allowed to do so. The local governments and municipalities in Lousiana, Mississippi and Alabama should have been able to step up in the hours following the hurricane to start the clean up and rescue efforts instead of having to wait days for federal coordination.

And states should have the right to deal with the problem of illegal immigration as they see fit.

I'm not getting into the debate over illegal immigration. That is a whole other topic. What I am advocating for here are the rights of states and the citizens of those states. The federal government has been infringing on those rights for too many years now. They need to back off and take care of the business that is clearly theirs and allow the states to take care of their business.

What do you think?

For more on States Rights visit this Web site The Tenth Amendment Center

The Lawn Wars

Here is another excerpt from my humorous memoir, A Dead Tomato Plant and a Paycheck. And what does a horse have to do with it? You'll see at the end. Enjoy....


One of the joys of living in the suburbs is the inevitability of the Lawn Wars. You know what I mean. Who has the prettiest, neatest, best maintained lawn in the neighborhood?

Normally, I did not enter into that competition. Hey, I know when it is futile to even try. But one Sunday I told my husband that it was about time we did something about our lawn.

"Why?"

"Because just once this summer I'd like to see the lawn mowed, edged and trimmed all on the same day."

"Why?"

"I don't know. It's just this strange desire that comes over me now and then. It's the same compulsion I get once or twice a year to see the house all neat and clean for more than five minutes at a time."

"But it's a futile effort. It's all going to grow back."

"I know, but it will look so nice for a day or two. And who knows, we might even find the kid who got lost out there last week."

So we dusted off our yard tools and set to work.

A couple of hours later, the thrill of our adventure had worn thin, and I was beginning to think that maybe my husband had the right attitude all along. We were hot and sweaty and surly, and I had just made my third trip to bandage a new blister, wondering what idiot had ever invented lawn care.

Obviously, humanity was not born with a desire to have a lawn that looks like a putting green, and lawn care could hardly be included as one of the basic primitive instincts of survival. Not only would it have been next to impossible to keep a nice lawn with all those dinosaurs stomping about, I think a caveman had a lot more important things to worry about than what his neighbor's yard looked like. So where did this compulsion to tame green growing things come from?

After giving this question careful consideration, I decided that once upon a time there must have been this obsessive compulsive pioneer woman who drove her neighbors nuts by keeping her house so clean she didn't have to send out for a new sod floor every six months like the rest of them. She probably never had a wrinkle in her sunbonnet either. And she was probably the type who had all her work done while the rest of the ladies were still trudging down to the creek with their baskets of clothes.

One day, to stave off waves of boredom, she probably got this brilliant idea to take her compulsion for neatness outside. And that, folks, was the birth of lawn care.

But what I’d like to know is why her great-great granddaughter had to move in across the street from me?

Now I live in the country and have a different kind of lawn mower....

A Pitch For Liberal Arts

In a recent article, New York Times columnist David Brooks made a case for studying liberal arts in college. He said that in these difficult economic times many students are thinking they need to focus only on classes that lead directly to specific jobs.

While that is a good approach on many levels, Brooks also encourages students to study the humanities. He wrote "Studying the humanities improves your ability to read and write. No matter what you do in life, you will have a huge advantage if you can read a paragraph and discern its meaning. You will have enormous power if you are the person in the office who can write a clear and concise memo."

How many work-related memos and e-mails have you read that needed some serious editing?

Another point Brooks made about the importance of studying liberal arts was that it helps students be thinkers. It sharpens critical thinking skills and helps with understanding human behavior that goes beyond scientific study. He wrote that "deep down people have passions and drives that don't lend themselves to systemic modeling. They have yearnings and fears that reside in an inner beast you could call The Big Shaggy."

It is The Big Shaggy that prompts people to do things that we simply cannot understand or explain logically. Brooks wrote that some people are able to take the upheavals of life that emanate from The Big Shaggy and represent them in many forms. One of those forms is literature.

I tried several searches and have not been able to find a link to the whole article, and I wish I could. It would be interesting for all writers to read. I think we are all aware of the importance of having clear motivations for our character's actions, but the ability to really dig deep into The Big Shaggy would add even more dimension to the characters and the plot.

Thanks to Susan for providing the link to the Brooks Column in her comment.

A Bit of Humor

Thank goodness I can always count on my friend, Tracy Farr, to have something fun to read on his blog. I have been out of town for a few days and swamped with work, so coming up with something new for the blog is a challenge I just can't deal with right now.

Tracy is gracious enough to let me ste..., er, borrow, from him when I am in a bind and the following is the lead to a piece he has on his blog today. It really is funnier than anything my overloaded brain could come up with right now. Enjoy.....

I spend way too much time on the computer. And when I say “I spend too much time,” I’m including YOU because you do too, and you can’t deny it – unless you don’t have a computer, then I guess you could deny it, but I’d think you were lying, so don’t.

We all spend way too much time on our computers and not enough time mingling with the people around us because 1) we don’t have to brush our teeth to chat with someone over the internet, and 2) we don’t want to talk to real people out in the real world on the off chance that they’ll have last night’s spinach stuck between their teeth.

To Read the rest click HERE

The Good Old Summertime

Here is another excerpt from my humorous memoir, A Dead Tomato Plant and a Paycheck. Enjoy....

Since our family didn’t take many formal vacations, a primary source of recreations for a lot of summers involved going to the neighborhood pool. I’d bargain with the kids to leave me alone in the mornings to work, then we’d go swimming almost every afternoon.

Quite often we’d head right back to the pool after dinner for a quick dip before bedtime. That was a tremendous boon to our water bill at home, as a quick rinse in the pool shower eliminated the need for a bath, especially when I remembered to bring the shampoo.

At the beginning of each pool season, we were like everyone else, not sure if we wanted to bare our pale white skin to the hot Texas sun. Extra t-shirts and sunscreen were in abundance. Plus, there was that adjustment period where regulars would start marking off territory that was pretty well respected back then. Certain families liked certain spots on the grass surrounding the pool and they staked their claim with blankets, towels, and an assortment of beach and pool toys.

Territory was marked off in the pool, too, and when the twins were little, I had my own little section of the kiddy pool reserved for the year. There I could keep an eye on the twins and cultivate a suntan, or a new acquaintance, or both. I’d look across the pool with envy, longing for the day I’d get to sit on the other side of the pool with the rest of the grownups.

In the evenings, there was a whole different set of people at the pool, mainly lots of teenagers. Carl would always cast an appreciative eye on the new crop of sweet young things who ought to be arrested for looking so good, while I tried my best to hide my varicose veins and the bulges that had fallen from all the right places to all the wrong placeson my body. I knew there was no hope for me to be considered a bathing beauty when I no longer got even a passing glance from some kid who was too young for the sweet young things, but too old for Tinker Toys.

Typically, my kids wasted a lot of time and energy testing to make sure I really was not going to bring money to the pool. Not ever. They also had to make absolutely sure that I was not going to referee their fights, or decide who would get to play with the ball next. “Settle all that yourselves,” I’d tell them. “I’ve come to the pool to relax.”

Indeed, going to the pool could be very relaxing. When the noise topside got to be too much, I could always go under the water and stay there as long as I could hold my breath. Sometimes I swear it was the only time I was completely alone in any given day, and it sure was quiet and restful down there.

That’s when I realized that if I ever have suicidal tendencies, I will definitely have to stay away from the pool.

I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles

The buzz in publishing is all about marketing, branding, establishing a platform and promoting. It's enough to make a writer's head spin.

Thankfully, there are a lot of resources to help us as we try to navigate our way through an area we are not familiar with, nor particularly comfortable in. Just like there are reasons that only younger women have babies, there are reasons that writers should write and marketers should market.

Since that is not the case, we have to do as much as we can, when we can, and learn from people who are doing it successfully.

Just a few of the helpful resources that can be found Online are: Writer's Write.com -- Book Promotion.com -- PumpUpYourBook.com Help with virtual book tours can be found at BlogBookTours.com

For everything you could ever want to know about promoting books, just do a Google search for "book promotions". More sites will pop up than you can look at in one day.

One of the things that I have learned by reading and listening to marketing experts is that the hard sell does not work. I thought I was the only one turned off by "you've simply got to read my book." But apparently I'm not.

At a recent marketing seminar given by Jeff Crilley who has a PR firm, Real News, he said that selling is about connecting to people on an emotional level, which is what I have been hearing from other marketing experts. He said the best way to create buzz about a book is to talk to people. He encouraged authors to arrange speaking engagements at Rotary Clubs, Kiwanis, and any other civic or church organization. "When you talk to people in person, that's where hearts and minds are converted," he said.

When his presentation was finished I realized what was probably the most important part of his workshop. Not once did he push his book. He did talk about the book. How he came to write it. How he has used his marketing strategy to sell it. But not once did he directly invite the audience to buy the book.

The other thing that has stayed with me since attending his workshop last week was how much fun we had. He was quite entertaining and frequently made everyone laugh. And... now I'm getting to the bubbles... to make his point on how ineffective press releases can be, he gave everyone a little jar of bubbles. He had us all stand up and blow bubbles and then he said that the bubbles represented the hundreds of press releases that might be received by a newsroom of a major television station or newspaper.

Very effective illustration of the point he was making; a point that might have gotten lost if it had just been part of a Power-Point presentation.

Loving My New Cover

Here is a peek at the coverart for my mystery that will be released in December by Five Star Cengage/Gale. The story is set in Dallas, so that is the Dallas skyline and the police badge is a picture of a real officer's badge. A friend let me take a picture of his to send to the artist who did the cover.

I am thrilled with what was done and some of the feedback I've received has been great. One person said, "The color scheme and the way the building scene is presented gives it a crime noir look that fits the book - a nice hard edge that I think will attract readers of crime novels."

I have also received some author blurbs from two writers for whom I have the greatest respect. I just posted a piece on the Criminal Minds at Work Blog, so if you are interested in reading what L.J. Sellers and Bruce Cook have to say about Open Season, just click HERE

Meet Author Donna Crow

I am pleased to have as my guest today, Donna Fletcher Crow, who is the author of 35 books, mostly novels dealing with British history.

Instead of detailing her publishing history, I will let the interview we did introduce you to Donna and her work.

She titled the interview "The Power of Story" and I found that an intriguing title.

Q. What was your favorite book when you were a child? Tell us a little about it.

DONNA: Well, my mother read the classics to me: Bambi, Heidi, Hans Brinker. As an only child I loved reading The Bobbsey Twins series. I thought living in that family would be heaven— having adventures with brothers and a sister was the way I wanted to live. I especially remember The Bobbsey Twins and Mystery Mansion, The Bobbsey Twins at The Seashore.

The point isn’t really what I read, because I didn’t move on to great literature until my sophomore high school English teacher required that I read Wuthering Heights and I never looked back after that. But the thing is that I LOVED to read! I was an only child growing up on a farm in the days before television. Now that dates me, doesn’t it? I spent days on end lost in books. And I never came out. I suppose I do the same thing now when I’m writing.

Q. When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

DONNA: As you can tell, my original passion wasn’t writing, it was reading, although I did write poetry and short stories as a child, mostly I just wanted to read. I loved stories. And when I didn’t have a book in front of me— late at night in bed— I would tell myself stories. It was always stories: stories I read; stories I told myself.

I guess I’ve always been fuzzy. When I was writing my grail search epic Glastonbury my daughter’s high school friends would say I was “Lost in Glastonbury” whenever I did something particularly spaced-out.

Q, What was the first thing you wrote? The first to get published?

DONNA: Well, if you don’t count the series of adventure novels I wrote and illustrated in the 6th grade— starring myself and my friends and each lasting about 5 pages— my first writings were plays for our church drama group because after we had done “The Robe” and “A Man Called Peter” there wasn’t much else available. I still use the dramatic approach in writing my novels— arranging the action in terms of scenes and watching it all play out in my head.

My first published? Oh, my goodness— can you believe I had to get the books out and look at the copyright dates to be sure? The confusion is, they weren’t published in the order I wrote them. My first novel was a Regency-style historical novel, Brandley’s Search which was eventually published in 1986 about 7 years after my first draft and about a hundred rewrites. My first published were two inspirational category romances, Greengold Autumn in 1984 and The Desires of Your Heart in 1985. Writing category fiction was a great way to learn my craft, but as soon as I realized I couldn’t read it any longer I had to quit writing it.

Q. How many years did you submit before your first publication?

DONNA: Oops, I answered that last question all wrong. My first book to get published (I had done a lot of short things before that) was The Frantic Mother Cookbook in 1982. I never imagined a writing career for myself. I was a mother and a retired (I hoped) English teacher. But after 3 sons we wanted a girl. And I didn’t get pregnant. I had to do something, so I started developing my writing skills. Writing the long-unpublished Brandley’s Search was part of that process. Then in 1980 Elizabeth was born. The Frantic Mother Cookbook was my response to survival with four children, one in high school, one in junior high, one in grade school and one in diapers. A through line is, “Will someone pick up Elizabeth? She’s crying again.” (Which is actually libel because she wasn’t a fussy baby.)

Q. What kept you persevering? What helps you now when the frustrations of the business mount?

DONNA: Mmm, good question. I suppose there was really never anything else I really wanted to do. There was always another story I wanted to tell, even most recently when I came through my 10 years-long “Wilderness.” I was still writing, I just wasn’t publishing. A Very Private Grave is one of the products of the wilderness. A supportive husband and writing community have been great helps in keeping going, but in the end, it has to come from inside oneself. And that comes down to Faith.

Q What do you like to do when you are not writing?

DONNA: I’m a passionate cottage gardener. You can see pictures of my garden on my Web site. I also love to drink tea with family and friends and read, read, read. I have 10 grandchildren that I adore spending time with but since they are spread from California to England I don’t get to spend nearly as much time with them as I would like.

Q. What feeds your creativity?

DONNA: Reading. Mostly English mysteries. I love those who write in my genre of ecclesiastical thrillers: Kate Charles, Phil Rickman, Susan Howatch. . . Also the classics: Jane Austen, Dorothy L Sayers, P. D. James. . .

Travel to favorite sites in England also feeds my creativity because background is so important to me in my writing— and also in my choice of reading— so there we are full circle.

Q. What is the best book you have read this year?

DONNA: Connie Willis’ To Say Nothing of the Dog. It has everything: history, sci fi, mystery, humor. I love the concept of time travel because I get as close to that as possible when I research the background for my books, and in this case the device of rebuilding Coventry Cathedral really gripped me because I have always been emotional about its bombing.

Q. What have you been dying to tell readers that no interviewer has asked so far?

DONNA: Since I’ve spent so much time in this interview looking back on the early days, it’s fun to recall how I wrote my first novel Brandley’s Search. We had built and moved into a new home, (our dream home, if you will, lots of room for the family inside and out) and I was exhausted. I felt like an avalanche victim covered in all those cardboard boxes. When I tunneled out I spent days— weeks— on end sitting in a comfy chair in our bedroom reading Georgette Heyer.

And then I read her Venetia and was consumed by the character of Venetia’s little brother. I can’t even recall his name now, but I had to know what happened to him. I would wake up in the middle of the night and scribble ideas. I would pull over to the curb when driving to make notes. I wrote all over my shopping list in the grocery store. It was like being pregnant. That story had to come out. And the first draft took me about nine months, too. I have often wished all my stories would come that easily, but it was a great way to start.

----

Donna's latest books are A Very Private Grave, book 1 in the Monastery Murders series and The Shadow of Reality, a romantic intrigue that will be published later this summer.

A Very Private Grave features Felicity Howard, a young American woman studying for the Anglican priesthood at the College of the Transfiguration in Yorkshire. She is caught up in a mystery when she finds her beloved Fr. Dominic brutally murdered. This is a contemporary novel with a thoroughly modern heroine who must learn some ancient truths in order to solve the mystery and save her own life as she and her church history teacher, Fr. Antony, flee a murderer and follow clues that take them to out-of-the way sites in northern England and southern Scotland.

“With a bludgeoned body in Chapter 1, and a pair of intrepid amateur sleuths, A Very Private Grave qualifies as a traditional mystery. But this is no mere formulaic whodunit: it is a Knickerbocker Glory of a thriller. At its centre is a sweeping, page-turning quest – in the steps of St Cuthbert – through the atmospherically-depicted North of England, served up with dollops of Church history and lashings of romance. In this novel, Donna Fletcher Crow has created her own niche within the genre of clerical mysteries.” – Kate Charles, author of Deep Waters


Donna and her husband have 4 adult children and 10 grandchildren. She is an enthusiastic gardener and you can see pictures of her garden, watch the trailer for A VERY PRIVATE GRAVE, and read her international blog on her Web site