Guest Post

This is a guest post by Kelly Brakenhoff. It’s part of a virtual book tour for Dead of Winter Break. When I read the post, I thought of how many people are affected this way.

Finding My Way Back

I thought I’d get so much done.

When everything closed the spring, and my day job as an ASL Interpreter was paused, at first, I was a little bit excited. At times, I’ve fantasized about reducing my interpreting work hours and increasing my writing time so that I can write more books, organize the empty nest, and pamper the dogs. A slow, leisurely transition to retiring and spending my days traveling the world, writing books, and drinking wine in foreign lands.

Not a bad fantasy, right?

The March reality check hit more abruptly than any of us expected. One week I was working in college classrooms, the next I was home 24/7. My husband works for a sand and gravel mine, mostly outside and never changed his schedule during the spring.

The dogs were confused.

I slept late and stayed in my pajamas past noon. I struggled to write, or clean house, or even shower daily. It was the first time in my adult life I was without a job and not home with a newborn baby. Optimism is my normal mindset, but it was a struggle.

I know many of you can relate.

Knowing I wasn’t alone in my distress kind of helped. After a few weeks of wallowing, I tired of kicking myself because I hadn’t finished the next book, cleaned a closet, or even done laundry. Here in the Midwest, cocooned in my neighborhood, I’ve avoided the virus as much as possible but often felt guilty about how little physical activity I got or how many carbs I ate. When our 15-year-old dog died in June, it was time for a change. For my mental health, I had to give myself permission.

Permission to veg. Permission to eat what I want.

Eventually I found alternatives to keep my brain challenged even when I didn’t feel creative enough to bang out the next mystery on my laptop. I read Chris Fox’s book 5,000 Words Per Day. No I still don’t write that fast yet, but I’ve tried some of his tips to increase my focus and decrease my distractions.

I read On Writing by Stephen King. I doubt Mr. King sat around all spring and summer wringing his hands and feeling angsty about getting words on the page. I signed up for Masterclass and watched videos by Neil Gaiman, Steve Martin, David Baldacci and more. At least on the videos someone was talking to me.

The worst part was the forced introverting.

Anyone who knows me would tell you I’m an extrovert. But I had no idea how much I need to be around people and talk to them until I couldn’t. Nowadays I’m back to work, although it’s mostly online from home. I’ve learned to make a weekly run date with a friend. I take walks with my neighbor who also works from home or play fetch with our German Wirehair dog.

What most helped bring me back to myself were the inspirational emails I subscribe to from Bishop Robert Barron and Maria Shriver’s Sunday Paper, along with a few authors who have funny monthly newsletters. My monthly book club met at the park this summer. I FaceTime my family more.

Staring into the abyss of more restrictions this fall and winter (our state has more cases than ever this week), I’m making my winter mental/physical health plan. Some days will be too cold or snowy to get outside, and I want to have options.

• Read something inspirational every day. Pray and meditate.
• Workout every day at least 30 min.
• Creatively keep my weekly exercise dates with friends while indoors. Maybe we’ll wear masks? Or I’ll get on my elliptical and my friend can get on her treadmill and we can call and chat while working out inside at same time.
• Before I eat junk or binge watch TV for hours, I’ll ask myself the question: “How will I feel afterwards?”
• Put up Christmas decor and shop for gifts even if I don’t feel like it at first.
• Keep writing a little bit every day. Even just 1,000 words a weekday adds up to 252,000 words per year.

Unfortunately, the pandemic isn’t going away as quickly as we had all hoped. What’s your winter plan for keeping your spirits up? Share your ideas in the comments and maybe they’ll inspire the rest of us.

Be well, friends!

Learn more about Dead of Winter Break and Kelly Brakenhoff at kellybrakenhoff.com. If you like this guest post, why not check out some of my Author Interviews?

Stranger than Fiction
Janet Finsilver

Sometimes real life can be stranger than fiction. People often ask me where I get my ideas for my books. I’m always on the lookout for interesting articles in the news. However, sometimes I run across stories that are difficult to believe even though they’re true. They are tempting to put in my books, but I choose not to. With this in mind, I’d like to give you an example.

Our local paper had a front page story about plant poaching. This was something I’d never heard of, and it caught my attention. It sounded like a topic that might be good for one of my books. A major investigation was started by the California Department of Fish and Game after an anonymous phone call was received by one of their wardens.

The caller was a woman who had been standing in a long line at a post office. The man in front of her had a large stack of packages he was shipping to China. She asked what he was shipping. He put his fingers to his lips and whispered it was something very valuable. Then she asked where he got them. He responded by pointing toward the ocean. She became suspicious and called the California Department of Fish and Game about what she’d experienced but didn’t leave her name.

The warden who received the anonymous call alerted US Customs and Border Protection. The package was x-rayed, and they discovered Dudleya farinosa, a small succulent found along the coast. The part I put in the “stranger than fiction” category is the fact that this man let a stranger know something about what he was doing that was illegal. I think in a mystery story, many people would feel like that was a very convenient way for information to be revealed—too convenient. But, there you have it. It’s a true story.

With a higher awareness after this discovery, authorities found more and more poachers. The plants were being uprooted by the thousands. They have become popular in a number of countries. Officials have said they sell for approximately fifty dollars each or more depending on the age and size of the plant in countries like South Korea, China, and Japan.

The plant is a small pale green succulent, often with edges or tips in bright colors. Its leaves form a rosette pattern. When they bloom, they have a tall stem with a cluster of bright yellow flowers. The plant is native to the coasts of Oregon and California and are found on the bluffs in these areas. It is sometimes called bluff lettuce or powdery liveforever.

Volunteers from the poached areas have organized to help replant the recovered smuggled plants. They sort them into piles of ones that can be go back in the ground right away and others that will need more tender care for a while. Meanwhile, officials will continue to be vigilant about identifying and arresting poachers, and reclaiming the plants.

Plant poaching is part of the plot in Murder in the Wine Country. I thought it was an interesting piece to include as it was so unusual. While my research says plant poaching has been going on in a number of places and with different plants for a while, nothing indicated there had been anything the magnitude of what was found in California until this was exposed.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this piece about plant poaching. It was all news to me!

Learn more about Janet Finsilver at janetfinsilver.com

Staging Wars

Grace Topping is a recovering technical writer and IT project manager, accustomed to writing lean, boring documents. Let loose to write fiction, she is now creating murder mysteries and killing off characters who remind her of some of the people she dealt with during her career. She’s discovering the delightful sweetness of revenge—writer’s style.

Learn more about Grace Topping at gracetopping.com.

You’ve Gotta Have a Gimmick

by Grace Topping

When I decided to write a cozy mystery, a mystery without violence, bad language, or sex, other writers told me I needed a hook. Okay, I said, a good opening line that will hook readers. No, they said, a hook. A hook? I’d always enjoyed reading cozy mysteries, but for someone new to writing them, I didn’t have a clue what a hook was.

If it wasn’t the opening, what was it? It sounded like the scene from the Broadway play and movie, Gypsy, where three experienced burlesque performers advised Gypsy Rose Lee that, “You’ve gotta have a gimmick.” And it had to be different from everyone else’s gimmick.

So I had to come up with a hook, whatever that was, and it had to be somewhat different from everyone else’s hook. Okay, I decided that I would have the victim fall from a laundry chute and land at my main character’s feet. That should certainly hook readers. They told me that was a great entrance for a body, but I still a needed a hook—you know, like have your main character own a bakery shop, walk dogs, make chocolate, run a knitting shop, be a librarian—things like that.

Oh, she should have a business or interest? Okay, I was finally getting the picture. I wouldn’t have called that a hook, but okay, I would come up with a hook—and one that hadn’t already been done hundreds of times. Was that even possible?

I went around for several days humming, “You’ve gotta have a gimmick,” but nothing was coming to mind. Since I hoped to write a series, I decided my hook/business/interest needed to be something I was interested in and enjoyed, something I had some knowledge of, or something I could research and sound like I knew what I was talking about. Easier said than done.

My experience at work was with computer systems related to banking. That certainly would attract a lot of readers. Not. I didn’t have any interest in arts and crafts, writing about food didn’t appeal to me, nor did any of the other things some cozy writers wrote about. What could I use as a hook that would interest me enough to write about it book after book. I really loved to read, but I couldn’t have my main character just sit around and read or quote from favorite books.

When I took a hard look at my life and interests on which to base a hook, nothing struck me as interesting enough to write about. What did I do besides going to work, caring for my family, cooking dinner, doing laundry, and other chores?

By the time I came home from work and finished with all of that, all I wanted to do was sit in a chair and turn on HGTV and mindlessly watch home stagers turn ugly duckling homes into swans that would sell fast and for more money. I loved those programs and eventually started helping friends stage their homes. I actually had a knack for it. Either that or I had watched so many staging shows that I was able to do what I saw the designers do.

That was it—my gimmick, ah…hook. I would have my main character be a home stager, start her own business, and have a body fall from a laundry chute and land at her feet. Perfect. I had my hook. Now all I had to do was write 70,000 words and I would have a cozy mystery.

Staging Wars Book Tour Itinerary

April 5 – Cozy Up With Kathy – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST 
April 5 – Readeropolis – SPOTLIGHT
April 6 – I’m All About Books – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE 
April 7 – eBook Addicts – SPOTLIGHT 
April 7 – The Book Decoder – REVIEW 
April 8 – A Wytch’s Book Review Blog – REVIEW, CHARACTER INTERVIEW 
April 8 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – REVIEW 
April 9 – Mysteries with Character – GUEST POST
April 10 – The Book Decoder – AUTHOR INTERVIEW 
April 11 – Lisa Ks Book Reviews – REVIEW, CHARACTER GUEST POST 
April 20 – Baroness’ Book Trove – REVIEW 
April 20 – Elizabeth McKenna – Author – SPOTLIGHT 
April 21 – Christy’s Cozy Corners – REVIEW 
April 21 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT
April 22 – StoreyBook Reviews – GUEST POST 
April 23 – Brooke Blogs – SPOTLIGHT, RECIPE 
April 24 – Teresa Trent Author Blog – REVIEW 
April 25 – Reading Is My SuperPower – REVIEW