Puppy Woes, More Soup, and a Christmas Tree Reversal

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Here we are, speeding towards that Dickensian celebration on the 25th like a runaway steam train (still on my Dickens streak here) so, because I am less than coherent, welcome to Debs' Sunday Hodgepodge.

I don't know if everyone else is as frazzled as I am, but it has been a week here. Actually, it has been a month. Around a week before Thanksgiving, our German shepherd Jasmine started feeling not quite herself. By that Saturday, she had stopped eating. Monday we went to the vet and he diagnosed pancreatitis. By Wednesday, she was still declining, so back to the vet for more fluids. By Thanksgiving night she was worse, so we spent that evening in the emergency vet. (This place was SO great.) More fluids, pain meds, antibiotics, and home we went. Over the next two days she improved, but when I woke up that Sunday, she had suddenly developed a swelling under her jaw the size of a baseball. I am not exaggerating!! I would show you photos but I guarantee you don't want to see them. Back to the ER for tests, tests, and more tests. Monday, back to the vet for surgery, then what would be two weeks of every other day sedation and care for the open wound. (If you are seeing dollar signs flashing like a slot machine display, you would be right!! We are not quite competing with Julia's cat, but we are getting close.)

Aw, but isn't she lovely? Look at that sweet face.

The good news is that after the THING was drained and cleaned out, she began to feel better and has steadily improved. We still have no idea what caused the massive infection. Tomorrow she goes in to have the last few sutures put in (the wound, the size of a fist, had to be closed a bit at a time) then hopefully we won't have another visit until the sutures can come out in about two weeks.

Needless to say, we are so relieved. And we are so thankful for modern veterinary medicine, a great vet, and a great vet ER.

Can you believe that after all this, the silly dog still wants to get in the car??

Also needless to say, I've been doing more cooking for the dog than for us, but I did want to share a standout recipe with you. I've made many bean soups in my life, but after reading repeated raves about the Senate Navy Bean Soup, I decided to give it a try. This soup has been on the menu of the U.S. Senate dining room for more than a hundred years, and is so popular they cannot change it. I made the slow cooker version from The New York Times but there are lots of other copies on the internet. I think this might be the best soup I have ever made! We got two dinners from it and I've stowed the last bit in the freezer for emergencies.

And ALSO needless to say, Christmas has not yet come to our house, hence the great Christmas tree reversal. You've heard my declarations of lifetime love for real Christmas trees here many times. Christmas won't be Christmas without a real tree!! But the days slipped by and I just couldn't get myself to the Christmas tree lot. Finally, I had talked myself into planning a trip to the lot on Friday. Then on Thursday night it suddenly--and belatedly--occurred to me that last year Ella the devil cat ATE the Christmas tree. And then threw it up all over the house. Every. Day. For three weeks.

And that, my friends, was the last Christmas tree straw. I just could not deal. I went online and thirty minutes later had ordered an artificial tree, which arrives tomorrow. Here's a photo from the website. I liked the skinny Aspen fir shape.

Hopefully, it will be pretty in our old house. I'll be burning a lot of pine-scented candles to make up for missing the real tree scent. 

One thing I can guarantee is that my husband will be a lot less Grinchy this Christmas. He despised the whole affair of the real tree and complained non-stop. I hope this one isn't too hard to set up.

I will update you!

Meanwhile, has anyone else tried this soup? And have any of you happily made the switch from a real tree to a faux?

P.S. One more fun Dickens thing! I decided I wanted to listen to an audio version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, and guess who reads it for Audible? Hugh Grant! How perfect is that? I'm going to listen while I trim the new tree!

P.S.S. Here's a rec for the best smelling Christmasy candle, mentioned above, Sea Pines by Mersea. It's available in lots of different sizes and decorative options. (Also on Amazon if they haven't sold out.) Last year Mersea also made one called Snowy Cypress that I adored, but it seems to have been a one-time thing.

Should Writers Unplug?

DEBORAH CROMBIE: With our recent mentions of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, I have been thinking about Dickens. An edition that includes his original manuscript is available on Kindle, and I've been peering at those scribbled pages in wonder. 

How did he even decipher them, much less turn them into the published story that we read and love almost two hundred years later? It must have taken immense concentration and focus, as of course did the longer novels. And I have to wonder if we modern writers, spoiled by keyboards and word processing, could duplicate such a feat. (A CHRISTMAS CAROL was published in 1843 and the first commercial typwriter would not be available for another thirty years!)

The Times has been interviewing writers as part of a series on the shocking decline of reading in the UK. The author Zadie Smith was quoted as saying she does not have a smart phone, and that writers need to unplug in order to "protect our consciousness." That would mean a definite nix on social media...

Honestly, although I say I'm not a big fan of social media, and I'm always encouraging people to put down their phones and pay attention to what's going on around them (and to read a book!) I have to confess that I am a little addicted to Instagram. I follow a lot of London accounts and that gives me a sense of being there in real time. But lately I have been shocked when my phone sends me my weekly screen time report and I see I spent THAT much time on IG! (And, no, I'm not saying how much!) So recentlyI've been making an effort to cut back on my phone use, and I do feel that it's allowed me a little more creative space to let my mind wander.

To all the primary school teachers who told me to stop daydreaming, I have to say that experience proved you wrong. Daydreaming can be a very good thing, and it's certainly essential for writers. 

I've cut back on my audiobook listening, too. As much as I've championed audiobooks as a way to enjoy reading, if I'm listening to a book while I'm washing the dishes or watering plants, my characters are not talking to each other in my head and I am not solving my latest plot hiccup.

I know asking if smartphones are draining away our creativity is a huge question, much bigger than anything we can tackle in this little space. But how do you feel, personally, dear Reds and other writers, and all of you dear readers here, because we are all creative even if our job is not putting words on paper. 

Do you find that the distractions of your phone are taking up way too much time in your brain, and if so, how are you dealing with it?

P.S. There are writers managing to write massive novels. Check out this Washington Post list of the heaviest books of the year. I'd love to ask them how they deal with smart phone distractions.

P.S.S. Zadie Smith has written her own Victorian novel, called THE FRAUD, which is not quite Dickensian in length as it comes in at a mere 416 pages.

I bought it months ago but have not read it, because I'm too distraced. Sigh.

P.S.S.S. Also note that Dickens would have been using a dip pen. Fountain pens did not come into common use until the 1880s.

Annette Dashofy--When Sidekicks Take Over

DEBORAH CROMBIE:  We have a "favorite author" bonus for you here on Jungle Red today! Just back in October Annette Dashofy was on the blog, sharing the third novel in her Detective Matthias Honeywell series, THE DEVIL COMES CALLING.

And now there is fourth Detective Honeywell, NO STONE LEFT UNTURNED! How lucky are we to have another book in this terrific series! This one has a super premise, too, as Annette will explain!

When Sidekicks Take Over

 Annette Dashofy

Fictional sidekicks come in all forms, shapes, and sizes from Snoopy to Robin to Chewbacca to Dr. Watson. If you think about it, what would our favorite heroes be without them. Charlie Brown without his beagle? Batman with no Robin? Who besides Chewy would put up with Han Solo? And Sherlock would be intolerable without Dr. Watson.

I think it’s safe to say, as readers and viewers, we love our sidekicks. As writers, we love them, too.

Generally, when we’re creating our cast for a new book or series, each character tends to have their own specific “purpose” within the story. Protagonist AKA hero, love interest, mentor, villain, and the previously mentioned sidekick. Often one character takes on dual roles. A sidekick might also become the hero’s love interest. Think Pepper Potts in the Iron Man movies. Lois Lane might fit the category as well. A sidekick might also be a mentor. Or as in the Star Wars example above, they can provide comic relief.

And sometimes, the sidekicks or other secondary characters outgrow their small roles to become fan favorites. It’s almost as though they don’t realize they’re only sidekicks.

For instance, Pete’s father Harry in my Zoe Chambers mysteries was never meant to appear beyond the end of Lost Legacy, which was the second in the thirteen-book series. Readers, though, kept hounding me. When’s Harry coming back? How’s Harry doing? We want more Harry!

It took a while, but I did find several more stories for dear Harry.

Something similar has been happening with my Detective Honeywell mysteries. In this case, Detective Sergeant Cassie Malone is Matthias Honeywell’s partner. She’s older, taller, and carries a higher rank, all of which she never lets him forget. From the very beginning, I’ve described her as part Amazon warrior, part mother hen. She’s also better with people than he is. But Matthias knows Cassie has his back no matter what.

She’s been a great counterpoint to him in so many ways. Matthias dates frequently, but rarely (until he meets Emma Anderson, that is) gets to a second date. Cassie has been happily married to a veterinarian for decades and is raising her 8-year-old granddaughter whose mother (Cassie’s military daughter) is deployed overseas.  

It’s been a blast writing her as the Wise One of the pair.

While it was never my intention, it became a natural progression to give her a featured role in No Stone Left Unturned, my fourth Detective Honeywell Mystery. Instead of simply being a smart, savvy cop, we get to see her deal with tragedy in her own family. She’s still tough, but she’s also vulnerable. Forced to sit on the sidelines in an investigation into her husband’s shooting, she must rely on Matthias and the rest of the police force to do what she’s used to doing—tracking down the bad guy. And we get to meet the rest of the Malone family, who up until now have only been mentioned in passing.

And ultimately, we get to see Cassie as a victim. Will she be tough enough to save herself?

You’ll have to wait to find out!

I’ve had a lot of fun shifting much of the focus and storyline to a secondary character and getting to flesh her out. How about you, Reds? When have you brought a sidekick or minor recurring character to the forefront of the action? And, readers, do you enjoy getting to know more about the peripheral members of the cast? Are there sidekicks you would like to see more of?

DEBS: I have certainly had my sidekicks decide they want to be major characters! Looking at you, Melody Talbot and Doug Cullen!

Here's more about NO STONE LEFT UNTURNED:

When a local Erie vet is shot during a robbery, Erie City Police Detective Matthias Honeywell and his partner Cassie Malone are tasked with pursuing the perpetrators. But as they close in on the truth, a mysterious sniper targets those involved in the case.

Emma Anderson has seen more than her share of cases since becoming a journalist in Lake Erie, and with news of the shooting becoming local interest, her instincts kick in. What she didn’t expect to uncover was a secret that could cause an ethical dilemma between Matthias and Cassie.

As the search for the sniper continues and the investigation taking a dark turn, Cassie and Emma find themselves caught up in a kidnapping plot. As the women are forced to draw on their resourcefulness to survive, will they manage to escape or is time against them?

I can't wait to find out!