tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10011561538999840462024-03-18T21:16:15.817-04:00Jungle Red Writers7 smart and sassy crime fiction writers dish on writing and life.
It's The View. With bodies.Jungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.comBlogger5494125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-63717935635746484192024-03-18T03:30:00.001-04:002024-03-18T03:30:00.134-04:00Thoughts on Poetry<p><span style="color: #2b00fe;">RHYS BOWEN</span> : I love the book Possession by Byatt, don’t you? It’s an absolute tour de force, especially the way she has created a whole body of poetry for two fictitious poets in the style of Tennyson and Christina Rosetti.</p><p> Back in the day poetry was a big thing. There were court poets in the Middle Ages who lived well thanks to rich patrons. Homer was a celebrity. Everyone knew Keats and Shelley and Lord Byron. And Tennyson –he was even made a lord for his poetry. And Longfellow. So what has happened to us today? Why have we lost our love of poetry? The closest we have to poet celebrities is Leonard Cohen, who set his poems to music, perhaps Mary Oliver, although I doubt the average person has heard of her.</p><p> We no longer value poetry, do we?. A poet can certainly not make a good living. Nobody goes to college and says “I’m going to be a poet,” without their parents tearing their hair out.</p><p><span style="color: red;">Why is this, I wonder.</span></p><p> Maybe it’s because poetry was designed to be spoken aloud, and modern poets try to be too clever and esoteric:</p><p> Stars at night</p><p>Falling. Boom. Crash. Thud.</p><p>Like stricken bodies</p><p>Into my tea cup</p><p>Why?</p><p> (that’s not a real poem. I just made it up, but you get the gist) It creates an idea, a picture, a fleeting thought, but then it’s gone.</p><p><span style="color: red;">How many of us had to learn poems by heart in school?</span></p><p> On either side the rive lie</p><p>Fields of barley and of rye</p><p>That clothe the world and meet the sky</p><p>And all the day the folk go by</p><p>To many towered Camelot…. </p><p> I can still recite so many of them: The Ancient Mariner, Hiawatha, The Forsaken Merman, lots of Robert Louis Stevenson and of course Shakespeare.</p><p>And do you know what? They all rhymed. They were all easy and fun to speak out loud.</p><p> That is what we’ve lost. My great aunts used to recite poetry during evening soirees. So we’ve lost the occasions to do this. And perhaps the poets are still here, but they’ve put their poetry to music: Bob Dylan, Lennon and McCartney, Steven Sondheim…</p><p> I don't think children learn poetry in school and longer. Only English majors will ever discover Keats, or Longfellow. Children will never sit in the back of cars chanting:</p><p> Faster than fairies faster than witches,</p><p>Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches,</p><p>Riding along like troops in a battle</p><p>All through the meadows, the horses and cattle…</p><p> I loved it. I miss it. I’d be a poet if I could make a living at it. My mother tells me that I wrote my first poem at 4.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJKgrmLCEgWlF4G1cOpwTFRmYCyE6wsoQJIJrwTy_IfEF_bwGKh7q5G_KpSJ-lTsM09FdGBp-Mh0y2wXZsjCtcKc31fPew0EwIVW8ZUmbfNBIoElKl066G3OjmXhf4uuKHZheTcfpc7WtMyqmOrZPSOkV8mkcho9XjaAZOrEKbXDeIhtNnXEjNbmSNj4k/s1187/IMG_4251.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1187" data-original-width="920" height="354" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJKgrmLCEgWlF4G1cOpwTFRmYCyE6wsoQJIJrwTy_IfEF_bwGKh7q5G_KpSJ-lTsM09FdGBp-Mh0y2wXZsjCtcKc31fPew0EwIVW8ZUmbfNBIoElKl066G3OjmXhf4uuKHZheTcfpc7WtMyqmOrZPSOkV8mkcho9XjaAZOrEKbXDeIhtNnXEjNbmSNj4k/w274-h354/IMG_4251.jpeg" width="274" /></a>I used to write lots of poetry in my teens. I'd sit in a darkened room, put a Tchaikovsky record on the radiogram and let my heart outpour. Come to think of it, many of them didn't rhyme either: But some did:</p><p>Sit, a stone, and survey</p><p>Until love and life pass away</p><p>Rest, a rock on the shore,</p><p>Until faith and death </p><p>are no more.</p><p>Then, as a new moon, alone</p><p>Arise and face the unknown.</p><p>They were all pretty bleak and sad at that time, I think. i was a huge fan of Gerard Manley Hopkins.</p><p><span style="color: red;">So share your thoughts, dear Reds</span></p><p><span style="color: red;">Do you miss poetry? Did you have to learn it? Did you ever write any. What can we do to bring it back</span></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;">HALLIE EPHRON</span>: Goodness yes, I had to memorize poems in elementary school. Remember “Barare Frietchie?” (“Shoot, if you must, this old gray head,/</p><p>But spare your country’s flag,” she said.) “Evangeline.” (“This the forest primeval…)</p><p>And then the ones I memorized just because I read them so many times and liked the way they sounded. (e. e. Cummings -anyone lived in a pretty how town. / (with up so floating many bells down)...</p><p>That’s the thing about poetry - so much of it is meant to be spoken and listened to. Though I confess a lot of poetry leaves me scratching my head and wondering what I’m missing. Is it ok to say that? </p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;">JENN McKINLAY:</span> I love poetry! WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS was published when I was a kid and I memorized so many Shel Silverstein poems. They were charming and clever and just delightful. Also, I grew up in New England so memorizing Emily Dickinson felt like a requirement.</p><p>I do believe poetry is alive and well in the younger generations. My nephew is a poet and writes and performs in poetry slams in local Boston coffee shops. When I was a teen librarian we hosted slams for teens by an outfit called Phonetic Spit. Some of the poems were angry, others broke your heart, and a few really made you think but the best part was that it was all written and performed by teens who’d discovered the use of poetry to deal with life’s joys and sorrows and it was wonderful. Also, we have Amanda Gorman’s The Hill We Climb bringing poetry to a new generation, which is terrific. I think poetry, like music, has changed in tone and style over time but it’s still there and it’s still relevant and I don’t believe it will ever disappear completely. </p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi50aYno5BIOF9okdw-hYKznJBrDL-8UtaXQanfQpSk-aN1LPUhtuGa1KZmRKm3n_XxUxpybiqGXl4UNkA9xILLUhOeeGdAoHhSby0bFHenXvutMxku-m5OCr1Io0aAbAi4bf8pkUlf9YvlpruOyquAztXIM-j9zKr_6FPRHluXejDsbdz4_N9-suaUADs/s982/IMG_2638.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="982" data-original-width="735" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi50aYno5BIOF9okdw-hYKznJBrDL-8UtaXQanfQpSk-aN1LPUhtuGa1KZmRKm3n_XxUxpybiqGXl4UNkA9xILLUhOeeGdAoHhSby0bFHenXvutMxku-m5OCr1Io0aAbAi4bf8pkUlf9YvlpruOyquAztXIM-j9zKr_6FPRHluXejDsbdz4_N9-suaUADs/s320/IMG_2638.jpeg" width="240" /></a></p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="color: #2b00fe;"><span style="color: #2b00fe; text-align: left;">LUCY BURDETTE</span><span style="text-align: left;">: I’m always envious of fiction writers that began as poets because I feel they have a better grasp of how to use language beautifully. My prose is more workmanlike than poetic. However, I will share something that makes me laugh when I think about it. I set my second book, DEATH IN FOUR COURSES, at a conference for food writers and one of the characters was a “culinary poet.” After the victim is found, they have a small wake-ish event and the poet is called upon to read. I had such fun writing this:</span></span></div><p></p><p>Fritz pushed his glasses to his forehead, unfolded a half sheet of lined paper, and smoothed it on the podium. He studied his audience with pale blue eyes, then turned his attention to the paper.</p><p>“The Butcher,” he said. “A poem to honor Jonah Barrows.”</p><p> “Morning comes, the butcher’s wife hands him an apron, starched white.</p><p>Keep it clean, she says.</p><p>At night, he brings it home, layered with the detritus of his day.</p><p>A splash of blood from the rib eye steaks carved for the rich man on the hill.</p><p>A touch of green from lobsters cracked and cleaned for the fussy housewife,</p><p>Who will eat pink flesh but not green, no matter how good it tastes.</p><p>Marrow from hacked bones,</p><p>Distributed to fancy restaurants and slathering dogs alike.</p><p>And as the day goes by, the hues of the apron morph from red to gray.</p><p>I tried, he says, handing it to the missus come evening. I had to do my work.”</p><p>RHYS: I love this, Lucy!</p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;">DEBORAH CROMBIE</span><span style="color: red;">: </span>Rhys, I adored Possession. I read it in one sitting–literally, on a ten-hour London to Dallas flight–and was just blown away. It definitely influenced me to write Dreaming of the Bones (in which I, like Lucy above, included poetry.) It was poetry that started me writing as a teen, in fact, and I read a lot. e.e. cummings, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, TS Eliot, Ezra Pound (why, I ask now!), Auden, Plath, Stevie Smith, Anne Sexton, Larkin, Wallace Stevens. And of course my beloved Dylan Thomas. I was never as good at memorizing, however, except for William Blake, who is forever engraved in my brain!</p><p>I hope poetry isn't lost! I think that exposure to language opens pathways in the brain that otherwise don't develop, and that makes our lives and our thinking so much richer and more nuanced. </p><p>You've encouraged me to get back to my "poem a day" practice!</p><p><span style="color: #2b00fe;">HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN</span>: Yes, I have a poem a day, too! I’m Yeats, Auden, Wallace Stevens. I had the honor of reading Czieslaw Milosz’s “On Angels” at my father's funeral, and highly recommend it as a source of peace and inspiration and wonder. And, with a name like mine, I constantly think of Robert Frost's “Maple,” which begins sweetly, about a girl named Maple who everyone thinks is “Mabel,” and her search for her mother’s meaning in naming her before she died in childbirth, and ends with a bitter twist. </p><p>Thus had a name with meaning, given in death,</p><p>Made a girl's marriage, and ruled in her life.</p><p>No matter that the meaning was not clear.</p><p>A name with meaning could bring up a child,</p><p>Taking the child out of the parents' hands.</p><p>Better a meaningless name, I should say,</p><p>As leaving more to nature and happy chance.</p><p>Name children some names and see what you do.</p><p>(Maybe we should all remember this when we name our characters…)</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvaIVZ3JQDQYyggYEnGk2LySmzvqwxrjJKCCBznMeOTGzy-1rkNyUJBzvY7IcKnmY4S5UP-vjE8P3LnfUrXs0jDRudXLwiPw8lCyxDBMhBX-OWESU1SZoc2Og4M5iQi9H3qjHW5P6DeV49VHAerrvteMb6BzL_tslIgC3gVvbGuQrRUCL-vUbPB17Ydnw/s960/IMG_2446.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="953" data-original-width="960" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvaIVZ3JQDQYyggYEnGk2LySmzvqwxrjJKCCBznMeOTGzy-1rkNyUJBzvY7IcKnmY4S5UP-vjE8P3LnfUrXs0jDRudXLwiPw8lCyxDBMhBX-OWESU1SZoc2Og4M5iQi9H3qjHW5P6DeV49VHAerrvteMb6BzL_tslIgC3gVvbGuQrRUCL-vUbPB17Ydnw/s320/IMG_2446.jpeg" width="320" /></a></p><p><br /></p><p>RHYS: So who are your favorite poets? I still adore Robert Frost, Auden, Walt Whitman, Mary Oliver, Keats... </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Jungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.com81tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-53955562239673422612024-03-17T00:30:00.001-04:002024-03-17T00:30:00.137-04:00Vicki, Donna, Trixie, and Cherry<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: It was so much fun to chat with you all and the Reds and Readers happy hour on Thursday! And we are planning our next event right now. We'll let you know the date, and the winners are being chosen. Thank you so much for being there.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDiUKLAQ79fXWF_fIGvHpD8yAn0EphH-XNUWBxlXPGqPGdF_x5Ru4DCey68iK3mEcKDOecBRjdGgDOYbVuwibWB_StMITlx11cQqWT9m6RT0x4nDDs-pKKRCrMoneelaW7l-ZRjPNe-jDZ3ZwwDmYOpOmnCUN_0n1slQHnPtgd3ScwJtQy-vJh0LUdxs8/s4032/hanks%20bookshelf%20girls.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="419" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDiUKLAQ79fXWF_fIGvHpD8yAn0EphH-XNUWBxlXPGqPGdF_x5Ru4DCey68iK3mEcKDOecBRjdGgDOYbVuwibWB_StMITlx11cQqWT9m6RT0x4nDDs-pKKRCrMoneelaW7l-ZRjPNe-jDZ3ZwwDmYOpOmnCUN_0n1slQHnPtgd3ScwJtQy-vJh0LUdxs8/w314-h419/hanks%20bookshelf%20girls.HEIC" width="314" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />One of the things I loved about our discussion was the chat about the books we read when we were what, pre-teenagers? Cherry Ames, and Trixie Belden, and of course Nancy Drew, but also Donna Parker and Vicki Barr. (These are on my bookshelf in my study. And the ones below, too.)</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Wikipedia says: </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vicki Barr</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a popular mystery series for girls published by </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grosset_%26_Dunlap" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grosset & Dunlap</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> from 1947 to 1964. </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Wells" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Helen Wells</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1910–1986) wrote volumes #1-4 and 9-16, and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Campbell_Tatham" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Julie Campbell Tatham</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1908–1999), the creator of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trixie_Belden" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trixie Belden</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, wrote volumes #5-8.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Donna Parker</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the protagonist of an eponymous seven-volume </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_series" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">book series</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> for girls that was written by </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcia_Levin" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Marcia Levin</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> under the pseudonym Marcia Martin from the 1950s through the 1960s.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cherry Ames</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the central character in a series of 27 mystery novels with hospital settings published by </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grosset_%26_Dunlap" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Grosset & Dunlap</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> between 1943 and 1968. </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Wells" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Helen Wells</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1910-1986) wrote volumes #1-7 and #17-27, and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Campbell_Tatham" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Julie Campbell Tatham</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (1908-1999), the creator of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trixie_Belden" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trixie Belden</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, wrote volumes #8-16. Wells also created the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicki_Barr_(books)" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vicki Barr</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> series. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS6YWimri_sMWUdgUyqsvfFD7rBCFwFbmd_p1RtpgsXKXVX2m-LqWOMbdObn6ujCl9CEVtxPtMfH6J7xEal1WmeubHen5xHcWfKjenoyT9UUi8_3Zh9Wlmi2jlQOnoGbYhgxWqwxeaKPoi9-BYi7GlYV0WD5oq1LVS9GDPSKWM6WOCvLxsQt8tEEpgjl4/s4032/hank%20girls%20bookshelpf%202.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjS6YWimri_sMWUdgUyqsvfFD7rBCFwFbmd_p1RtpgsXKXVX2m-LqWOMbdObn6ujCl9CEVtxPtMfH6J7xEal1WmeubHen5xHcWfKjenoyT9UUi8_3Zh9Wlmi2jlQOnoGbYhgxWqwxeaKPoi9-BYi7GlYV0WD5oq1LVS9GDPSKWM6WOCvLxsQt8tEEpgjl4/w300-h400/hank%20girls%20bookshelpf%202.HEIC" width="300" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Hmm, Julie Campbell Tathham really changed our lives, right? And little did we know.</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Julie Campbell Tatham</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> (June 1, 1908 – July 7, 1999) was an American writer of children's novels, who also wrote for adults, especially on </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Science" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Christian Science</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. As </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Julie Campbell</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> she was the creator of the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trixie_Belden" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trixie Belden</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> series (she wrote the first six) and the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ginny_Gordon" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ginny Gordon</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> series. As </span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Julie Tatham</span><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> she also took over the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherry_Ames" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cherry Ames</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> series and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicki_Barr_(novel_series)" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vicki Barr</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> series from </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Wells" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Helen Wells</span></a><span style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyVSiTtZZW58HZ0F3QFkTcjsbQU3A40u1RJnecbIZ4BDUNRiCypV58jdcPR9py716WuKIngdxRWbN3NnEuV_pg8Gl_2ptmUPguvmQRqGEPuarUs2iLbK53tfivxjL_DjgwxgBET8LX3LDzlGV9NtUDDKnpQcqnZZQjQjtWbpzPISofkB3O-Gkd162BUSU/s3856/trixie%20belden%20cover.heic" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3856" data-original-width="2892" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyVSiTtZZW58HZ0F3QFkTcjsbQU3A40u1RJnecbIZ4BDUNRiCypV58jdcPR9py716WuKIngdxRWbN3NnEuV_pg8Gl_2ptmUPguvmQRqGEPuarUs2iLbK53tfivxjL_DjgwxgBET8LX3LDzlGV9NtUDDKnpQcqnZZQjQjtWbpzPISofkB3O-Gkd162BUSU/s320/trixie%20belden%20cover.heic" width="240" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Why did we love them? Here’s a page from Trixie Belden and The Mysterious Code. See how it starts with an inciting incident?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzsQFVzzk__VGg-iWGissxmrdWCmDO4DslgONLgnqERwMu-jSCMvpDILD0s632vAif9DIikdP6wTpjxbFzVPUvf_qGwh1EOfXLVoyilVcGnMKMmOqKKjlTTfairrW5-SXvuzNXHGWpjF6PwsXiJY_K15A-Z_mUpLBkf3kg_SdFpG-SjWMmdGrLkyaonj8/s4032/trixie%20belden%20page.heic" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzsQFVzzk__VGg-iWGissxmrdWCmDO4DslgONLgnqERwMu-jSCMvpDILD0s632vAif9DIikdP6wTpjxbFzVPUvf_qGwh1EOfXLVoyilVcGnMKMmOqKKjlTTfairrW5-SXvuzNXHGWpjF6PwsXiJY_K15A-Z_mUpLBkf3kg_SdFpG-SjWMmdGrLkyaonj8/w480-h640/trixie%20belden%20page.heic" width="480" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">In Cherry Ames, Chief Nurse, Cherry gets her new assignment on page 8.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLEOGql6hYU2ICe4EVHPdcDZrX_yE8axX5TeS3wrWnB43bo6_zd0Srv0yr6WVXMOdWtHET5-3flLf4w6rQK0Vm6ocm-U4poSmAs_Pwb-hm27OziObpbE2mh_KPOJ8GrXzKN-wxPGboeUuvnQ4li3MaavRC_HZjPEPBrBJvjZTO6X7TfPc5NJVAZ2suRBQ/s4032/cherry%20ames%20page.HEIC" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLEOGql6hYU2ICe4EVHPdcDZrX_yE8axX5TeS3wrWnB43bo6_zd0Srv0yr6WVXMOdWtHET5-3flLf4w6rQK0Vm6ocm-U4poSmAs_Pwb-hm27OziObpbE2mh_KPOJ8GrXzKN-wxPGboeUuvnQ4li3MaavRC_HZjPEPBrBJvjZTO6X7TfPc5NJVAZ2suRBQ/w480-h640/cherry%20ames%20page.HEIC" width="480" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">But “flight stewardess” Vicki Barr, who is about to embark on The Hidden Valley Mystery, is all backstory and background...until chapter two.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ls9TtfhzXUh3CzDDqvRyr7O9hlAJrjpLxCIqMcLq-_iDiP1jS2qK6dUH5HsxzYmVVjbQuKsRqt7XyjsDiqtgU_xCQlQJ9xukt25R8LnfIngYt2ivwa3yTqU97wOGCciYrDfONCB-seWuPMfZXCxSlZby8jXDmrhePJnbqmbv1cpuUlrVU1eaWh5zQqI/s3933/vicki%20barr%20page%20.heic" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3933" data-original-width="2732" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_ls9TtfhzXUh3CzDDqvRyr7O9hlAJrjpLxCIqMcLq-_iDiP1jS2qK6dUH5HsxzYmVVjbQuKsRqt7XyjsDiqtgU_xCQlQJ9xukt25R8LnfIngYt2ivwa3yTqU97wOGCciYrDfONCB-seWuPMfZXCxSlZby8jXDmrhePJnbqmbv1cpuUlrVU1eaWh5zQqI/w444-h640/vicki%20barr%20page%20.heic" width="444" /></a></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-615b88d0-7fff-ca29-8e73-7e50d5e333b4"></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">So much fun to go back and look at these! Did you read this kind of book? Why do you think we loved them so much? Which ones did you read?</span></span></p>Jungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.com110tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-29407724370073022422024-03-16T00:30:00.002-04:002024-03-16T00:43:21.532-04:00HOT OFF THE PRESSES<p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiO-2DeXyfBotD_cBtoeEoF_j0QrarAV0cbCMoRkNy3Cl-XI4s8ynq-SD3P8sIiCFaWLxD40twAOK8OuqB1EWzkC0HxPqMOmjtDEN08WWeA2H8C1T3qgTNGiEEbyAokfTx8N7K2LTXr4DavlgPszjA89r_lZn30LYu0ofRmc-DizPKMwNFxqGr3miTug2U" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img data-original-height="1012" data-original-width="663" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiO-2DeXyfBotD_cBtoeEoF_j0QrarAV0cbCMoRkNy3Cl-XI4s8ynq-SD3P8sIiCFaWLxD40twAOK8OuqB1EWzkC0HxPqMOmjtDEN08WWeA2H8C1T3qgTNGiEEbyAokfTx8N7K2LTXr4DavlgPszjA89r_lZn30LYu0ofRmc-DizPKMwNFxqGr3miTug2U=w262-h400" width="262" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><br />HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Hurray! You know how much we love debut authors here on Jungle Red, and we are so thrilled to give a standing ovation to the fabulous <a href="http://www.christinaestes.com">Christina Estes,</a> an intrepid experienced reporter who finally, after years, took the big step into fiction.</b></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;">I can tell you, Reds and readers, her debut novel <a href="http://www.christinaestes.com">OFF THE AIR</a> is a must read-</span>-and a perfect beginning for a series. A winner in every way! (And all of you who wonder: do I need to start at the beginning of the series? Christina makes it easy, because this is book 1!) The iconic and revered JA Jance says “it's a tale that demonstrates how behind the smiling faces of TV anchors, covering the big story is a dog eat dog world.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">And today, Christina gives us the inside scoop. And breaking news: a copy of OFF THE AIR to one very lucky reader! Enter once here with a comment, and you can get a second entry by coming to the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/6835060499909032">Reds and Readers Facebook page</a> and commenting on the post there, too!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">HANK: Have you always wanted to be a mystery writer? How and why did that start? </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgthoD9_SyOKyFQsOIXLzMSWcS-cOUxIqT8N9wjIyXYH6xh0ZSTvRWYdmSezGrb_HMrhKK9L9Im0-sZBT2mkIn9YD_wIDQJul25hzWGdyiH4BFZXJzhjG5dmx_KFP_3mVGyznc2HBdVBPKzwWc62g7vPKkQeDD2wy0lDjQNBiibVAv4QTBqfRC6Jr9SR7k/s6000/Christina%20Estes.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="6000" height="292" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgthoD9_SyOKyFQsOIXLzMSWcS-cOUxIqT8N9wjIyXYH6xh0ZSTvRWYdmSezGrb_HMrhKK9L9Im0-sZBT2mkIn9YD_wIDQJul25hzWGdyiH4BFZXJzhjG5dmx_KFP_3mVGyznc2HBdVBPKzwWc62g7vPKkQeDD2wy0lDjQNBiibVAv4QTBqfRC6Jr9SR7k/w439-h292/Christina%20Estes.JPG" width="439" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><a href="http://www.christinaestes.com">CHRISTINA ESTES:</a> <span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I remember being young and some adult</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> asking, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Since I devoured books, I would answer, “An author.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">But I never met an author and didn’t know anyone who pursued writing as a career. My love of reading included magazines and newspapers and I was exposed to reporters on TV and the radio, and that led me to study journalism.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">J.A. Jance’s Ali Reynolds series, about a former L.A. newscaster who moves back home to northern Arizona, planted the seed for my writing. Hank’s Jane Ryland series about a Boston reporter helped it grow. Or at least helped me contemplate the idea of writing a series featuring a Phoenix TV reporter. <span style="color: red;">It would be many years before I became serious about writing.</span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">HANK: When did you decide that you were really and truly going to seriously write a novel? It’s such a big step – – what made you take it? </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">CHRISTINA: In 2009, I said, “I’m going to write a book.” And, fifteen years later, I’m being published. Fifteen years!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I naively thought that because I’m a reporter and write every day that I could write a novel. Big mistake. There’s a huge difference between writing a thirty-second or three-minute broadcast story and a 300- page novel.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">There was a lot of writing, rejection, stopping. More writing, rejection, stopping. You get the picture. I went years without writing. That’s not how you get published.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">When I finally accepted that I didn’t know how to write a novel, I focused on learning (and I’m still learning) and got serious. I started saying ‘No’ to a lot of things in order to prioritize writing. <span style="color: red;">It will not take 15 years to get published again! </span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HANK Makes sense! And of course. But</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">—</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">what happened to make you finish this time?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">CHRISTINA: There was no ‘aha’ moment that I recall. I just felt more committed. I wanted to see it through and figured I would give it my all one more time. Fortunately, perseverance paid off because Off the Air was selected for the Tony Hillerman Prize and I received a publishing contract through Minotaur Books.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HANK: What idea sparked </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">this</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> particular novel? The ONE thing you wanted to write about?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">CHRISTINA: Besides taking readers behind the scenes of local news, I wanted to showcase Phoenix. <span style="color: red;">I remember reading J.A. Jance’s first Ali Reynolds novel years ago and practically squealing with delight at the local references.</span> There are so many great series set in cities like Boston, New York, Minneapolis, Chicago and Los Angeles, and I want to read more set in the city I call home</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The theme that kept swirling as I wrote centered on recognition. We all need it. People leave jobs and relationships when they don't feel valued. In the case of Jolene, my main character, she gets the acknowledgment she craves by breaking stories</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Part of her desire for recognition comes from her upbringing, which she doesn’t yet realize or chooses not to accept.</b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">HANK: So—do you blend fact and fiction in this novel? Do you use your real-life reporting experiences as a basis for your story?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">CHRISTINA: I include references to two stories I covered as a reporter. The first involved residents who gathered to celebrate the demolition of an abandoned restaurant that had become an eyesore and attracted criminal activity.<span style="color: red;"> I changed the restaurant’s name</span> but kept the party details – neighbors really did bring balloons and sparkling grape juice to cheer the demolition.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbN-HCDcG6Iuxo_TT7kQ2be_WV-IF2LZHwZCDslFdX2oKM5muSeeapXI7HMPV4m7VL-1qbmVTNwwAwaKJ9AutgXk49crdGrwfvI-jdMJh1H3gE2WGkTxWokdtH_xiCj2Zhsv6EePVUMDUUaXB_EEVy7ZI8zuSAmYtlbSr4O6Ca_6oPLAwP66WTwJ-hnFU/s2031/Book%20and%20Emmy.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1760" data-original-width="2031" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbN-HCDcG6Iuxo_TT7kQ2be_WV-IF2LZHwZCDslFdX2oKM5muSeeapXI7HMPV4m7VL-1qbmVTNwwAwaKJ9AutgXk49crdGrwfvI-jdMJh1H3gE2WGkTxWokdtH_xiCj2Zhsv6EePVUMDUUaXB_EEVy7ZI8zuSAmYtlbSr4O6Ca_6oPLAwP66WTwJ-hnFU/s320/Book%20and%20Emmy.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><span style="color: red;">The other story</span> relates to my personal experience being nominated for an Emmy <span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">for reporting about a fish going to the dentist. It lost to a story about bubble wrap. Yes, bubble wrap! In the book, it is Jolene’s loss. It’s interesting to hear reactions to that vignette. Some readers relate to Jolene’s disappointment, while others laugh.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HANK: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A fish going to the dentist? You must tell us about this in the comments. How did the book change from how it was when you began? How did it become different—darker, bigger, scarier, more thought-provoking, deeper? What did you learn?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">CHRISTINA: My main character initially had a different name and backstory. I was writing about the 29-year-old TV reporter that I wish I had been. I needed a character with some rough edges, a character that I cared about and could root for.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I created Jolene’s backstory based on my experience as a former foster parent. It was uncomfortable because I didn’t want to cause pain for anyone who had experience in the child welfare system. It’s a big reason why I included a content advisory in the book. I love Jolene. I know some people will say, “She’s a character, not a person” and they would be right. But Jolene feels real to me.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">HANK: One of the most difficult things in having a new novel is that you need the elevator pitch! So here we go… Tell us about this book!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: 400; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC8nVm1CpKqZVGwZU7ozKBNtzrwBLqYgE1tbnqQEFJnMafg5kF_vExmPzCCV98Uejb-fpvAB9emTcTF8CuhCEOZiP46wCSdRXcxf2TTLqY5xuQATaXs0yL3xn2xDnOAuKBXx-NLWQQTSHKVRN71v-ZBNv5b0F8ljBVCu3ceizWKL34mgyzVm6Y0aUhGfQ/s2031/Book%20and%20Emmy.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1760" data-original-width="2031" height="277" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhC8nVm1CpKqZVGwZU7ozKBNtzrwBLqYgE1tbnqQEFJnMafg5kF_vExmPzCCV98Uejb-fpvAB9emTcTF8CuhCEOZiP46wCSdRXcxf2TTLqY5xuQATaXs0yL3xn2xDnOAuKBXx-NLWQQTSHKVRN71v-ZBNv5b0F8ljBVCu3ceizWKL34mgyzVm6Y0aUhGfQ/s320/Book%20and%20Emmy.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br />CHRISTINA: <b><span style="color: red;">I’m glad you asked because I need to practice for Good Morning America. Off the Air will be their Buzz Pick on March 30 and I get to pitch via video</span></b>. Here’s what I’m thinking:</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Off the Air</span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> introduces Jolene Garcia, a local TV reporter in Phoenix trying to cover real issues in a society that seems more interested in clicks and reels.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">When a controversial radio talk show host dies on air, Jolene’s managers are ecstatic because she conducted his last interview. They’ve got the advantage – but not for long. National media descend on Arizona with bigger budgets and better scoops. Jolene is determined to solve this murder. It’s an investigation that could make or break her career—if it doesn’t break her first.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">HANK: </span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>YAY! Massive congratulations on GMA. </b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">I absolutely love this book, it was surprising and wise and knowledgeable and fast paced and fun to read. How do you hope people will feel at the end of it? </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">CHRISTINA: Thank you, Hank. I hope readers feel entertained and are curious about what’s next for Jolene personally and professionally. A sequel is in the works!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">HANK: Hurray! And cannot wait to hear about all of your adventures. SUCH a joy to have a debut novel, and we are cheering you from the reds room! <span style="color: red;"><b>So, Reds and readers, let’s talk TV. Do you have a favorite television reporter? Past or present, fictional or real?</b></span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b> </b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b></b></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjrl_L6ukYQgat618JlCRytoaqpyjyaCP5lyzGF0bU86FROAOMBe63LyEOdFPC0zXiwB_yfUUS6EA95ku_8OKvTmsOsWjeDNcD4kWuC4O0obU8F7d0S_1LIe3KeYWA3ohAwQIp2p5f1WybeTAmzXMXEtdrrejtDmnoLQ9qugmvSl-ZYJm5i-AaeZ4Be_c/s1012/Off%20the%20Air%20no%20shadow.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1012" data-original-width="663" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjrl_L6ukYQgat618JlCRytoaqpyjyaCP5lyzGF0bU86FROAOMBe63LyEOdFPC0zXiwB_yfUUS6EA95ku_8OKvTmsOsWjeDNcD4kWuC4O0obU8F7d0S_1LIe3KeYWA3ohAwQIp2p5f1WybeTAmzXMXEtdrrejtDmnoLQ9qugmvSl-ZYJm5i-AaeZ4Be_c/s320/Off%20the%20Air%20no%20shadow.png" width="210" /></a></b></span></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><br />And a copy of the hot-off-the-presses <a href="http://www.christinaestes.com">OFF THE AIR </a> to one lucky commenter!</b></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>Remember, you get another entry by commenting on the<a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/6835060499909032"> Reds and Readers page! </a></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b> </b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Emmy award-winning reporter <a href="http://www.christinaestes.com">Christina Estes </a>received the Tony Hillerman Prize for Best First Mystery Set in the Southwest. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Off the Air</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is the first in a series featuring a local TV reporter.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f1111; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Having worked for several local TV stations, Christina now reports for the NPR member station in Phoenix.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="http://www.christinaestes.com/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: blue; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">www.christinaestes.com</span></span></a></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/ChristinaEstesAuthor/" style="text-decoration: none;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0563c1; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">https://www.facebook.com/ChristinaEstesAuthor/</span></span></a></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-8e40504a-7fff-5370-c44e-0e117fbdf2d3"></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #0f1111; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">@reporterestes on Instagram, X/Twitter, Threads</span></span></p>Jungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.com133tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-42742997346613803632024-03-15T00:30:00.008-04:002024-03-15T00:30:00.166-04:00No Longer Lost in Translation<p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: A theme! We have a THEME! You know how much I love when that happens.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Yesterday, the fab Gabriel Valjan had us all thinking about how our lives have changed since the seventies. Especially women’s lives.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Today, we’ll walk a similar path, but go back many more years into the past.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">First let me ask: Have you read The Magic Mountain? Or Buddenbrooks? Or Death in Venice? If you read them in English, you have a little-known </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">American</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> woman, Helen Lowe-Porter, to thank.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> The literary giant Thomas Mann balked at a female translator, but he might well owe his standing in the Western canon to her. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Helen Lowe-Porter. That's her name. </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-size: x-large; white-space-collapse: preserve;">Here’s her story. By way of her determined not-quite-biographer Jo Salas.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: center; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd9-hywO9VY2JLwRNuxPhA7_WUyBpQCNS7DtDKMS8sq_NLb20_N2ZuYKazl-QG8PQcPQms99Y6dTgY4LrUltTBVC8FonCJppyglSw0AxUzvYF1OwBE6lLmAzSc-y1pF7x7kLxwRxYgef7BcnuVtOO2sI5qysWoyDk08C_VrjEkl7kFwZisrTdwmwwcwTU/s1000/JoSalas_Authorphoto.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="668" data-original-width="1000" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhd9-hywO9VY2JLwRNuxPhA7_WUyBpQCNS7DtDKMS8sq_NLb20_N2ZuYKazl-QG8PQcPQms99Y6dTgY4LrUltTBVC8FonCJppyglSw0AxUzvYF1OwBE6lLmAzSc-y1pF7x7kLxwRxYgef7BcnuVtOO2sI5qysWoyDk08C_VrjEkl7kFwZisrTdwmwwcwTU/w400-h268/JoSalas_Authorphoto.jpg" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /><span style="color: red;">Anticipation</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; text-align: center; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://josalas.com/">By Jo Salas</a></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">In her memoir about her distinguished parents, my mother-in-law Patricia Lowe described visiting her mother in an old people’s home. Helen was wearing her favorite loose black silk pants and sleeveless top, commissioned from a dressmaker. She looked elegant, Patricia wrote, and relaxed, despite her restless yearning to be somewhere else. Helen’s brilliant mind was by then unclear, her natural warmth tainted by anger and bitterness. Her long life had been full of extraordinary achievement but also disappointment and betrayal. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3PMDIXsD4wAgyzfcsOqr0hooo_suEsbZsT7z-GFceoqdUe4IV6KBBojcAm93zLT-nkDgEIa_wLeLGaIl5GJzNBedcNKyJnQUvG2FUdMo1JA7pMj-7C5FpwbJbVH56AjPwb6g0bpl6-TBpmmrOMNpDBuzgP8Vwg9JRZYN18mCGgmk_XV_E0Xjr5yutj0k/s1500/Mrs.%20Lowe-Porter_cover.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1000" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3PMDIXsD4wAgyzfcsOqr0hooo_suEsbZsT7z-GFceoqdUe4IV6KBBojcAm93zLT-nkDgEIa_wLeLGaIl5GJzNBedcNKyJnQUvG2FUdMo1JA7pMj-7C5FpwbJbVH56AjPwb6g0bpl6-TBpmmrOMNpDBuzgP8Vwg9JRZYN18mCGgmk_XV_E0Xjr5yutj0k/w266-h400/Mrs.%20Lowe-Porter_cover.png" width="266" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />The image stayed with me. A few years later, imagining Helen in her flowing black silk, I wrote a scene, letting my imagination expand and bringing in hints of Helen’s remarkable life story. Eventually—it took years—the scene grew into a novel, <a href="https://josalas.com/"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Mrs. Lowe-Porter</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></a></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Helen Lowe-Porter translated the novels (and some nonfiction) of the great German writer Thomas Mann.</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Mann was already established as Germany’s pre-eminent novelist, though little known elsewhere. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>Helen’s translations introduced his work to the English-speaking literary public.</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> In 1929, soon after her second translation, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Magic Mountain</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, Mann was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>She remained Mann’s translator for 36 years. Despite the essential part her translations played in his success, she remained invisible behind her androgynous professional name, H. T. Lowe-Porter, noticed only to be criticized. She and Mann slowly developed an affectionate friendship. But his appreciation, either private or public, was rare.</b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Patricia spoke often about her parents and their towering achievements: her father, Elias Lowe, was an eminent classicist who taught at Oxford and was one of the founding scholars of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. In her telling, Elias and Helen’s relationship was based on intellectual attraction, not romance—her brief memoir is titled </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">A Marriage of True Minds</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">. Patricia herself felt hopelessly in their shadow, unable to measure up to their brilliance. And resentful: her mother, she felt, had always been preoccupied with matters more important than her children.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">I didn’t start writing about Helen until after Patricia’s death, when her careful research came into my hands.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">It included Helen’s correspondence with Mann and his publisher Knopf, as well as with her husband and children. The letters prompted me to re-read a biography written soon after Helen died, by a writer who’d known her personally. From these sources, and from talking to family members who remembered her, Helen began to emerge in my mind as a warm, complicated woman, absorbed in her family as well as her work—quite different from the chilly intellectual that Patricia evoked.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">A typical letter, written to Elias in the late 1920s when he was visiting New York and she was at home in Oxford, includes household concerns, literary musings, and political comments. But it’s also full of news of the girls –“delightful little creatures”—as well as detailed instructions for the dresses that she wanted him to buy for them, including the colors and fabrics. It’s not the letter of a mother who disregards her children. “The time is not long until you are here,” she writes tenderly to Elias at the end. “It cannot go fast enough for me.” She signed it “Thy H”, as she always did.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">I shared my first pages about Helen in her old people’s home in a masterclass taught by Lydia Davis, and got enough encouragement to keep going. <b>I knew I wanted to write fiction about her, not biography. But I wanted to build my fictional narrative around the contours and essential meanings of the life that Helen lived—as best as I could comprehend them. </b>I gleaned as much as I could from Helen’s writing and the objective facts of her life and career, along with Patricia’s stories and reminiscences from her grandchildren, my cousins by marriage.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><b>As I pondered the cornerstones of this woman’s life, several elements stood out to me: Helen’s lifelong commitment to her own writing, for one.</b></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> She was a born writer who, to her great sorrow, never fulfilled her literary ambitions. Her gift for languages led her to translation, first for her aunt and mentor Charlotte Endymion Porter, the publisher of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Poet Lore</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> magazine. After she married Elias, translation enabled her to help support their growing family. But translation work easily preempted creative work. Once she was contracted to be Mann’s sole translator it was even harder to claim time to write the stories, poems, and plays that jostled for expression within her. She never gave up, not until a final, decisive disappointment in her late seventies.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Helen’s marriage to Elias was also central to the story I wanted to tell. Her letters and poems tell a story of passionate, mutual love, diverging from Patricia’s story of a bloodless marriage. She described a memory of playing anagrams with her mother as they waited for Elias to come home from Paris.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">The word that Helen offered for nine-year-old Patsy to decipher was “anticipation,” offered with a secret smile. Patricia comments about how beautiful her mother looked that evening, her cheeks pink in the firelight. Reading her description of that scene, I see a woman eager to be in her lover’s arms again. There was a vigorous erotic bond between them that lasted into their late middle age, when he shattered her heart by seducing their elder daughter’s friend.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgepyUhFGxEKkYjji9RYncr8_tHSfJA-72t-8nCoQ04jPa0mk5s3tGYakwMbm8QDR4wfjl3hCEmRT9BHGUF6MmhgXML6nimYinUeQMWPki1qMd2-an9S13jt7r22VMLxnfUqoVOoa5wyx0MhYiKyF6vG2wMf48e93FAzF1-S1L8mBZj-L2xhmc0diklkYs/s1730/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-13%20at%207.37.46%20PM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1194" data-original-width="1730" height="442" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgepyUhFGxEKkYjji9RYncr8_tHSfJA-72t-8nCoQ04jPa0mk5s3tGYakwMbm8QDR4wfjl3hCEmRT9BHGUF6MmhgXML6nimYinUeQMWPki1qMd2-an9S13jt7r22VMLxnfUqoVOoa5wyx0MhYiKyF6vG2wMf48e93FAzF1-S1L8mBZj-L2xhmc0diklkYs/w640-h442/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-13%20at%207.37.46%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Helen was an avowed feminist all her life, and she did her best to push against the male condescension and dismissal that confronted her constantly, from Mann’s insistence that only a man could translate </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Magic Mountain </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(he lost the argument), to the terse note that the critic George Jean Nathan wrote about her to Alfred Knopf: “Woman authors over the age of sixty-five should be handed over to the Ku Klux Klan.” (Nathan was nearly seventy himself.)</span></b></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">But I don’t know if she saw the trajectory of her life as a feminist story, as I did. The nearest she came to memoir was her long essay about translating Mann, where she writes with characteristic self-deprecation and humor about her work but very little about her personal life.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Trying to build a sense of the woman, it helped to summon some of the places where she lived or visited. I found the narrow house on a cobbled street in Oxford where the family had lived, and the clipped lawns of Corpus Christi where Elias taught for years. I was able to evoke her refuge on a Maine island, the tall, graceful cottage inherited from Aunt Charlotte, because I’ve stayed there many times myself. I imagined her at Mohonk Mountain House in upstate New York, just a couple of miles from where I live, visiting Thomas and Katia Mann while he was working on </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Doctor Faustus</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">I’ve looked for Helen in the crumbling pages of the photo albums that were hers and then Patricia’s. I see the photo of her with her three little girls, her face gentle, her eyes far away. I see the photo of a happy young Helen fishing in a stream in Bavaria, camping with Elias before they were married. And I see another photo of her, even younger and very pretty. She looks spirited, playful, sharply intelligent, full of hope and confidence at the dawn of her adult life. It is this photo that is now on the cover of my book. <b><span style="color: red;">She is invisible no longer.</span></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">HANK: <b>Wow. You never know what life-altering thing you are about to learn. Authors, are your books in translation? Have you tried to read them? My books are in a dozen other languages—and I always marvel at them, wondering what the translators thought.</b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Reds and readers, who has a question?</b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="color: #242424; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-76c9de31-7fff-eb86-6015-d4adeeabd0c6"></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Jo Salas</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a New Zealand-born writer of fiction and nonfiction. Winner of the Pen & Brush prose contest and nominated for a Pushcart Prize, she is a co-founder, performer, and chronicler of Playback Theatre. She lives in upstate New York.</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> She is the author of</span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Lowe-Porter-Jo-Salas/dp/195690705X/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1JO0KXONWC6NT&keywords=mrs.+lowe-porter+jo+salas&qid=1689427386&sprefix=%2Caps%2C89&sr=8-1"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span></a><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mrs-Lowe-Porter-Jo-Salas/dp/195690705X"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-skip-ink: none; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">MRS. LOWE-PORTER</span>,</a> which is<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> available now.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-UtiROCm6E" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #dd2a2a; font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: 19px; transition: all 0.1s ease-in-out 0s;">“Everyone has a story”</a><span face="Lato, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #444444; font-size: 19px;">: Jo’sTEDx talk</span></p>Jungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.com71tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-4579327501409036122024-03-14T00:30:00.015-04:002024-03-14T09:57:24.779-04:00The Pitfalls of Nostalgia<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red;">BREAKING NEWS: Don't forget, </span><span style="color: #444444;">tonight </span><span style="color: red;">(YES! A SPECIAL TIME!) on Reds and readers on Facebook, our big live Jungle Red happy hour... join us, </span></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">all </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of us, to chat about everything and anything: our news, your news, and all of our lives and adventures tonight at 7:00 PM ET on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/6835060499909032">Reds and Readers Facebook page</a>!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: red; font-family: Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><b>(You can put questions you'd like us to answer tonight in today's comments--and we will answer live!)</b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">(Remember, you have to join us to join in the fun, so <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/6835060499909032">click here</a> if you are not a member, and we will see you tonight at 7:00.) (Yes we know it's usually the 17th. But tonight it isn't. :-))</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Will there be </span><span style="color: #ff00fe; font-size: large;">giveaways</span><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">? Of course! And we now return you to our fabulous regular programming.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: </b>In the pantheon of good guys in writer world, <a href="https://gabrielvaljan.com/">Gabriel Valjan </a>leads the pack. He is incredibly generous, thoughtful, and absolutely incredible when it comes to supporting his colleagues. He is astonishing, really, making graphics for his fellow authors, promoting their events, and even suggesting ways to amplify promotion! Amazing amazing amazing. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">But not only that, he is a dear and treasured friend. And not only that! He is an incredible writer. Elegant, witty, and thought provoking. Plus, his cats are legendary.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">We are so honored to welcome him to Jungle Red today!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH-xX2sR96yxXH7JktiMk64uEVyyEHedNiEXLy9AqVgbKwRhNda_1zezcgiuMgeUfVGQgdi9_oRXe4-riTmuQGIheORbTwStQRZw8Gm9KXcIn0eXqTssDsu6dEV_0oliAv1zDAyFRSSKi79cWYW25bsJ9g5cmCCb4GpRJozYmhRxz8nNBxp6t0rtCg4jU/s1451/GV-Peter-Rozovosky.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1451" data-original-width="1176" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH-xX2sR96yxXH7JktiMk64uEVyyEHedNiEXLy9AqVgbKwRhNda_1zezcgiuMgeUfVGQgdi9_oRXe4-riTmuQGIheORbTwStQRZw8Gm9KXcIn0eXqTssDsu6dEV_0oliAv1zDAyFRSSKi79cWYW25bsJ9g5cmCCb4GpRJozYmhRxz8nNBxp6t0rtCg4jU/s320/GV-Peter-Rozovosky.jpg" width="259" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Things Are Never What They Seem</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> by <a href="https://gabrielvaljan.com/">Gabriel Valjan</a></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The title may suggest something philosophical, but I intended something along the lines of conspiracy theory since I write about the Seventies in my <a href="https://gabrielvaljan.com/">Shane Cleary Mystery</a> series. The cinema of that decade was rife with disaster movies and tales of corruption and conspiracies. To the latter point, see </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Chinatown</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Three</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Days</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">of</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">the</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Condor</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">, and the elephant in the room </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">All the President’s Men</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">The lies exposed, cynicism was a societal norm.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">In <a href="https://gabrielvaljan.com/">THE BIG LIE,</a> Shane’s fifth appearance, I shine the light on what it was like for a woman to work in a man’s world.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Bonnie is Shane’s girlfriend, a lawyer in a Boston Brahmin law firm. She is painfully aware she is a guest inside the manor. She knows that she’s smarter than most of the men in the office, but she is working-class, her diploma says Suffolk Law instead of Harvard, and she is not keen on marriage, which makes her a rebel.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">She is hard at work when the partners ask her to handle a pro bono class, a case that the firm does for ‘appearances.’ The carrot on the stick before her is that if she does well, they imply that she’ll be fast-tracked for advancement. However, the firm will not allocate her the resource of a private investigator. Hence, her need to ask Shane for a ‘favor.’</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Anyone with experience in the ‘real world’ will recognize the setup</b>. If Bonnie does well, it’s an ‘Atta girl’ but come promotion time, the sound of crickets. The law firm has nothing to lose, but she does as a woman, as a lawyer in a sexist profession. The Seventies was when feminism hit its stride, but men said Ms. with the sibilants of a snake in their garden.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>I was a teenager in the Eighties, but my childhood was rooted in the Seventies.</b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Like most children, I observed everything in my environment, and I was aware of inequalities and injustices from a young age.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">My grandmother needed her husband’s permission at the store and bank to buy a refrigerator. Women were not allowed to have credit cards until 1980. My mother was the first woman manager in a national company, and she lost her job because an efficiency consultant said (despite the evidence) that a woman couldn’t land lucrative contracts and delegate responsibilities. I had a cousin, a teacher and one of the few women with a master’s degree in the 1950s, who would watch male colleagues with less education and experience promoted ahead of her. My sixth-grade teacher, a single woman, lost her job when she became pregnant.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is Bonnie’s world, the sociopolitical milieu of Seventies America.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>When I hear people nostalgic for ‘the good old days,’ I cringe</b>. I’m convinced that what they mean—but won’t admit to themselves—is they have learned otherwise.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Childhood was a time of ignorance, of not knowing work for a paycheck, office politics, and the reality that diplomas mean little and who you know matters more. Childhood is the benchmark to all other experiences. In a word, their memory has become selective and amnesiac. Nostalgia isn’t the warm and fuzzy glow of a Hallmark movie; it’s a failure to look at the historical record.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">What we have called progress in American society was born of long, arduous legal battles, and violence. Men and women have died or suffered indignities to achieve most of our legal rights. The Civil Rights Movement is an explicit example.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">A banal and incredulous one? It was once illegal for women to wear trousers in public, and when the law was changed, social acceptance was belated. Women were not allowed to wear pants in the U.S. Senate until 1993, and Hillary Clinton was the first of the First Ladies to wear trousers for an official portrait.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_yIlhI-KyA01pmN1YS3ks3SvLeVAqrTg-fPgPJcjIprYw89BNR4-IJjzwEuovZy4nv08hoixRyJ-IiMa_hR2UliVWMN7Rat-3SDI86St8_3ce69kLMyiIBzYIKLKce4XxiaOPASk-2DHTyHO67QZygH9YlSnAOyub8vCT8c-RFJVLpZcdARuGPW7eE8/s1658/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-13%20at%202.42.24%20PM.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1658" data-original-width="1104" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_yIlhI-KyA01pmN1YS3ks3SvLeVAqrTg-fPgPJcjIprYw89BNR4-IJjzwEuovZy4nv08hoixRyJ-IiMa_hR2UliVWMN7Rat-3SDI86St8_3ce69kLMyiIBzYIKLKce4XxiaOPASk-2DHTyHO67QZygH9YlSnAOyub8vCT8c-RFJVLpZcdARuGPW7eE8/s320/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-13%20at%202.42.24%20PM.png" width="213" /></a></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br />Here is Shane with Bonnie in THE BIG LIE, talking about the Boy’s Club:</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“Here’s how I see it. They came to you with this case. Slam dunk, they might’ve said. Take a break from contracts, they said. Get back to criminal law, which you love, they told you. They say it’s pro bono, do it and it’ll put you in good with the partners. You could protest and say you’re rusty on criminal law because you’re the contracts gal now. They increase the charm and pour you a glass of Chardonnay and remind you it’s all procedural, open and shut. How am I doing?”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-left: 36pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“Martini,” she said softly. “They gave me a martini.”</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Tell me…when you are nostalgic, is what you remember real and objective, or not? Do you remember what was good—or not?</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">HANK: SO fascinating! I do remember—very clearly—we were not allowed to wear pants to high school. Ever. I graduated from high school having worn only skirts or dresses to class.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-large; white-space-collapse: preserve;">How about you, Reds and Readers? Are you seeing your past clearly? What inequities do you remember? Do you cringe when people talk about "the good old days"?</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">And a copy of Gabriel's wonderful THE BIG LIE to one lucky commenter here, and another one on our Reds and Readers page! </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="canada-type-gibson, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-size: 20px;"><a href="https://gabrielvaljan.com/">Gabriel Valjan</a> is the author of the Roma Series, The Company Files, and the Shane Cleary Mysteries. He has been listed for the Fish Prize three times, shortlisted for the Bridport Prize once, and received an Honorable Mention for the Nero Wolfe Black Orchid Novella Contest. Gabriel has been nominated for the Agatha, Anthony, Silver Falchion Awards, and received the 2021 Macavity Award for Best Short Story. Gabriel is a member of the Historical Novel Society, ITW, MWA, and Sisters in Crime.</span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="canada-type-gibson, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #111111; font-size: 20px;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="canada-type-gibson, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #111111;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://gabrielvaljan.com/" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1658" data-original-width="1104" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm6uzbXbRdeRiq3-SNIgePROb2wJClHjJKNt6sG76E1XhBPr61kigI-FDh2UyzNJ1pzzDd0evly1HKJhbla6KKgsPZMcYAKxgerLEBHdZKBeQNyMILB3MprTkqyf66CU7hO9aBoA9ByH-GkydOO06KpySbPfeNwV3NMO66pMdg4DPmsGv71oiKDFKxcgU/s320/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-13%20at%202.42.24%20PM.png" width="213" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><br /></span><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span color="inherit" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://gabrielvaljan.com/">THE BIG LIE </a></span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span color="inherit" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: inherit; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Everything screams he shouldn't take the gig, finding the gangster's lost dog, but Shane can't resist the promised 'bonus.' </span></span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: large;">His cat, Delilah, is against it, and his girlfriend, Bonnie, the lawyer, doesn't know. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: large;">Life is neither easy nor simple for Shane. Bonnie asks for his help on a pro bono case, his friend Bill requests a sketchy background check, and a mafia henchman makes a peculiar request. Shane can't help but think his client just might kill him anyway after he finishes the job. </span></p><p style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #0f1111; font-family: "Amazon Ember", Arial, sans-serif; padding: 0px; text-align: start;"><span style="font-size: large;">Does Jimmy know a Truth that will change Shane's life, or is it a Big Lie?</span></p></div><br /><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p>Jungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.com90tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-21073308683688428072024-03-13T00:30:00.000-04:002024-03-13T09:01:39.916-04:00Can This (Fictional) Marriage Be Saved? <p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://hankphillippiryan.com" target="_blank">HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN</a>: A few weeks ago in this space we were talking about the quirks our husbands have, and it was funny, wasn't it? The husbands who fight with the GPS, or can't find anything, or leave socks on the floor. But if you read domestic suspense, the tensions come from far more than those adorable quirks. Sometimes--well, all the time--Domestic suspense thrillers wind up with deception betrayal gaslighting and even... murder.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">We know what we're getting the moment we open to the first chapter... So what is it about those books that lures us to continue? Here's the perfect person to tell us: <a href="https://bookouture.com/authors/ellie-monago-423/" target="_blank">Ellie Monago</a> is a thriller writer --and also a couples therapist! See if you agree with her.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">And hurray—she’s doing a big giveaway!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiaB9LKLz8RyMHJLoqOL4C7-YeafE9UDiya-efAiF9bF0oMgE3vvL8437IIOdeJ6d9JZfk9u3cLhKFgKSc5f-dfgW7A_3GGAHnWmI6WKz-Vqc_SBQNS-W_XPAgBZYAZ87LdAfHGlxOMoFRAgPvHCQKn1cutKgDCNe6kHnnF1BMx8VfXF4xQcrNtkl7yJI/s500/Ellie%20Monago%20500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiaB9LKLz8RyMHJLoqOL4C7-YeafE9UDiya-efAiF9bF0oMgE3vvL8437IIOdeJ6d9JZfk9u3cLhKFgKSc5f-dfgW7A_3GGAHnWmI6WKz-Vqc_SBQNS-W_XPAgBZYAZ87LdAfHGlxOMoFRAgPvHCQKn1cutKgDCNe6kHnnF1BMx8VfXF4xQcrNtkl7yJI/s320/Ellie%20Monago%20500.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: large; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration-line: none; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><b><br />Why can’t we look away from a marital train wreck?</b><br /> <a href="https://bookouture.com/authors/ellie-monago-423/">By Ellie Monago</a><br /><br /><br /> A quick disclaimer: I’m not just a thriller writer; I’m also a couples therapist. So I’m both compelled and paid to keep relationships together, not tear people apart. But what I do in my spare time is my own business, right?<br /><br /> All kidding aside, <span style="color: red;">I do love love.</span> More than that, I love the hard work of love—meaning, helping people find a way to soldier on through hard times and recapture the connection that brought them together. To me, there’s nothing more romantic than people rediscovering one another when they’re no longer so starry-eyed and pheromone-addled. Choosing someone all over again, many tumultuous (or mundane) years later, knowing all you now know about them and about yourself? That’s inspiring.<br /><br /><span style="color: red;"> But I have to admit,</span> there’s nothing as fascinating as watching two people go at each other intensely. Pretty much no one can make you as furious as the one who shares your bed night after night. And while my job as a therapist is to intervene and turn the tides, in my work as a writer I’m there to drop a match in the kindling of all the resentments and unmet needs. I know that my readers want a wildfire.<br /><br /> It’s no accident that romance and domestic thrillers are both so popular (Colleen Hoover, after all, writes both.)<span style="color: red;"> Those genres are two sides of the same coin.</span> We want to read about people finding each other and, later, needing to lose each other under very adrenalized circumstances.<br /><br /><span style="color: red;"> My theory is</span> that it’s affirming and hopeful to know that true love is possible and is, in fact, occurring every day (especially if we’re single) and that perfect love is a fantasy (especially if we’re married.) There are obstacles to getting together and then there are obstacles to staying together. In domestic thrillers, those obstacles aren’t just growing apart or the inevitable passage of time or that you initially chose wrong for a myriad of entirely innocuous reasons. <br /><br /> No, it has to be more intricate and intriguing than that, or why read (or write) at all? The spouse must be capable of far more duplicitous and nefarious acts than ever could have been imagined at the outset. No breakup can be as simple as, “This just isn’t working anymore.”<br /><br /> In real life, it’s often that simple, and that devastating. So we want something racier from our fiction.<br /><br /> We might also want schadenfreude, to take some pleasure in the misfortune of those who seem all too fortunate. <b>After all, why else are the couples in domestic thrillers so deceptively perfect? </b><br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Xqrjhv40LXSjCQDHAHQHrQjI4tHq_dhTMOJ8H4RxL_dBYKvYQf2hmAHBZp2lqXgEmVHWgtFTawJhmY1U1ZAcEWwUuHyAW7SNAJ8dVNOJu8gVBBhKRWAXO9jZK4GJSoCvL8Zm_PqSl_BghOnHYDqxgpfWzwP3BaBf58CyHpBb8IYduvjFSyJ4NpPcOTM/s2339/CUSTODY%20BATTLE%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2339" data-original-width="1524" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6Xqrjhv40LXSjCQDHAHQHrQjI4tHq_dhTMOJ8H4RxL_dBYKvYQf2hmAHBZp2lqXgEmVHWgtFTawJhmY1U1ZAcEWwUuHyAW7SNAJ8dVNOJu8gVBBhKRWAXO9jZK4GJSoCvL8Zm_PqSl_BghOnHYDqxgpfWzwP3BaBf58CyHpBb8IYduvjFSyJ4NpPcOTM/w260-h400/CUSTODY%20BATTLE%20cover.jpg" width="260" /></a></div><br />In my new novel THE CUSTODY BATTLE, Greg and Madeline are one of those couples: gorgeous, accomplished, and envied. But once the divorce proceedings start, they’re a train wreck waiting to happen, and<b> you might find it hard to look away. </b>At least, I hope you will.<br /><br /><span style="color: red;"> I’ll be giving away three e-books of THE CUSTODY BATTLE,</span> randomly chosen from those who comment below and sign up for my newsletter on my Bookouture author page:<br /><br /><a href="https://bookouture.com/authors/ellie-monago-423/">https://bookouture.com/authors/ellie-monago-423/</a><br /><br /> So what are your favorite marital train wreck thrillers?</span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Ohhh, so many good ones! Rebecca, of course, and Liv Constantine’s The Last Mrs. Parrish. Lisa Gardner terrified us all with The Perfect Husband. I got into the game with THE MURDER LIST and THE HOUSE GUEST. And I know all you Reds and Readers can think of more!</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ellie Monago</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> is a novelist and practicing therapist who was living in the San Francisco Bay Area and now resides in Canada with her family.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIe1zyRgFH_5KOHOmIB4RI4vT-GyuXac7vkw4FD7wst5dmF-LxEo8AEnBiRt5cKIP4uaW3KLx3s3h1PsgXwZMJkjA4yt9Af2Pa0bMewLZFs4vCXaCkDbBQlT_nJnQrpaLWVWymLIOAfLzX5FDEABCPi52AexMan1RI09ezhcmx3n_f99ZAjPWFDoNeRJk/s2339/CUSTODY%20BATTLE%20cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2339" data-original-width="1524" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIe1zyRgFH_5KOHOmIB4RI4vT-GyuXac7vkw4FD7wst5dmF-LxEo8AEnBiRt5cKIP4uaW3KLx3s3h1PsgXwZMJkjA4yt9Af2Pa0bMewLZFs4vCXaCkDbBQlT_nJnQrpaLWVWymLIOAfLzX5FDEABCPi52AexMan1RI09ezhcmx3n_f99ZAjPWFDoNeRJk/s320/CUSTODY%20BATTLE%20cover.jpg" width="208" /></a></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><a href="https://bookouture.com/authors/ellie-monago-423/" target="_blank">THE CUSTODY BATTLE</a></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-d54fb289-7fff-0d24-e409-4b26dfba7dee"></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;">Attractive and affluent, Greg and Madeline have everything - problem is, Madeline no longer wants Greg. In this impeccably plotted and smart suspense, a brutal custody battle drives someone to murder. Dark and totally addictive, this is a story about a family tearing itself apart in each parent's struggle to survive. </span></span></p>Jungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.com87tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-77459036132411359352024-03-12T03:30:00.012-04:002024-03-12T03:30:00.133-04:00Celebrating the Twentieth Molly Murphy Mystery<p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEeQbXlTDprJJaVSl7aAbtVHi0TTSR1t4ZfDGIYRRIT0nIj3I8xUop712jLdKYtD8TB9GMFBZMd2KHWAl7IynlTpmF6j8Vz9kVSY2lkjnLvW_FAG_7HKUvCQDAyx6BB8MqbU8q3p-gs3LdQEPnAdH5xLSmgnu8BLUgTiWKTY-EU8Xa2jnbS-HW_Nhxv6M/s3024/IMG_0732.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="2526" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEeQbXlTDprJJaVSl7aAbtVHi0TTSR1t4ZfDGIYRRIT0nIj3I8xUop712jLdKYtD8TB9GMFBZMd2KHWAl7IynlTpmF6j8Vz9kVSY2lkjnLvW_FAG_7HKUvCQDAyx6BB8MqbU8q3p-gs3LdQEPnAdH5xLSmgnu8BLUgTiWKTY-EU8Xa2jnbS-HW_Nhxv6M/s320/IMG_0732.jpeg" width="267" /></a><span style="color: #2b00fe;"> RHYS BOWEN</span>: Today Clare and I are celebrating the publication of our new Molly Murphy book, IN SUNSHINE OR IN SHADOW. <span style="color: red;"><b>It is the twentieth book in the series,</b></span> so I'm jumping up and down with joy and amazement. Who would have thought that Molly could not only have survived so long but could have flourished? In all those books she has had plenty of narrow escapes, been bombed, survived an earthquake, and a factory fire, met Houdini, French Impressionists and now has an adventure in the Catskills.</p><p>As you know I now write these books with my daughter Clare Broyles, so I thought I’d tell you a bit about my co-writer.</p><p>A year ago we were doing a book signing and someone asked “How did you two hook up?” and I replied, “I made her.”</p><p>Yes, I conceived her because I knew I’d need someone to take over my writing legacy one day. (For those of you who take things literally, I’m just kidding). If I’d really wanted a co-writer I’d have made her watch and study as I wrote, practice character development and plot twists from the time she could talk. But looking back I can see that she did indeed have a childhood that was helpful to a future writer.</p><p>We read to our kids from day one. She grew up in a house full of books. She was a precocious child and was reading The Hobbit in first grade. We had a to have a good talk when she wanted to read “Are you there God, it’s me, Margaret” when she was eight (years before I had planned to have THAT talk). I never censored what books she brought home from the library and was pleased that she self-censored. “I took that one back,” she’d say. “I didn’t like it.”</p><p>There was always a lot of pretend play at our house. Clare would write plays. Dominic, the only boy, would always be the prince with a towel around his shoulders as a cape and a wooden sword. Clare, unfortunately, almost never got to be the heroine. Her two sisters would refuse to take part if they couldn’t be Cinderella etc and Clare wound up as the witch.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsqv5PVKD3oaa2lRscEoZ2U7-A-lXQAzHtFfqf6nBnpQ4-NrcoJnzayhY0HCVTxGFpdLwHhS5QV7PPjM6s-MqmOW-mdnlXFQ2GCErY601IO2W_eLr9UqDb6TkO8cdLbZ2GsBWIgoHn9kXa6h5vopwbKP-F_MvpP4jJyLvowC6YI2-7uUDFKEutmJqhd9s/s3088/IMG_1827.jpeg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3088" data-original-width="2320" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsqv5PVKD3oaa2lRscEoZ2U7-A-lXQAzHtFfqf6nBnpQ4-NrcoJnzayhY0HCVTxGFpdLwHhS5QV7PPjM6s-MqmOW-mdnlXFQ2GCErY601IO2W_eLr9UqDb6TkO8cdLbZ2GsBWIgoHn9kXa6h5vopwbKP-F_MvpP4jJyLvowC6YI2-7uUDFKEutmJqhd9s/s320/IMG_1827.jpeg" width="240" /></a>Story from when she was 11. She got a boyfriend, a nice boy called Mike. She brought him home. I left them alone in the family room. It became awfully quiet down there. I tiptoed down to spy and found them both lying on the floor… on their stomachs, playing with the Fisher Price castle and the Playmobil little people knights, ladies and dragons.</p><p>Clare has always been a true renaissance woman:</p><p>As a Freshman in high school she got the part of Anne in the diary of Anne Frank. Imagine how emotional it was for a parent to watch that! She went to college pre-med, but decided she didn’t want to become a doctor and added an English and Spanish literature major. She did independent biology research into calcium binding proteins (way ahead of its time), was offered a fabulous job with Genentec but instead chose to volunteer at a homeless shelter in Juarez, Mexico. There she met her husband Tim and together they did great work in El Salvador, helping people get their lives back together after the civil war.</p><p>On her return she got a degree in Music, specializing in opera, wrote and produced a children’s opera. She has since written background music for the Arizona Theater Company and others, winning an Arizona Tony award. She now teaches music, math and the gifted program at a charter school.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5WjY30sihDBXE3ehIO2zf9Ziy67Xd5jIp5bk0wmzbxMsb6Q4M9jSqikWNzCh9LSXbehFpGBXL50f4c4BYRIy7v_cTnJ9O6tqdz183olP5L5ieGBddFSmQ7l-7PSLPXJesU-8-HHOVYlTqn-r-P8dbssW8oDaX2lyjaWga8Y69sihex-ZYpNMzgcWtbV4/s4032/IMG_0556.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5WjY30sihDBXE3ehIO2zf9Ziy67Xd5jIp5bk0wmzbxMsb6Q4M9jSqikWNzCh9LSXbehFpGBXL50f4c4BYRIy7v_cTnJ9O6tqdz183olP5L5ieGBddFSmQ7l-7PSLPXJesU-8-HHOVYlTqn-r-P8dbssW8oDaX2lyjaWga8Y69sihex-ZYpNMzgcWtbV4/s320/IMG_0556.jpeg" width="240" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="text-align: left;">So what’s it like working with Clare? Awful. (just kidding again). We work together so well—she has great ideas, we talk through scenes and spark creativity in each other. It gives us an excuse to chat every day. And we never fight. In fact I don’t think I’ve ever been mad at Clare in her entire life. She is so sweet natured. And we laugh a lot. It’s very therapeutic.</span></div><p></p><p>Clare adores research. She reads the New York Times for every day we write about and find great snippets to add to our stories. When we started this book we knew we wanted to feature the early Jewish bungalow communities in the Catskills. Clare found there was a retreat center for professional women nearby(no men allowed),also a new state park and a bluestone quarry, creating a great gash in the earth. Such great motives for murder!</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3DSrOyg5Hlg_3kcn2Z4n9uo1qRnuKOH7vAlEebIQMt4GJDtp7RXu8qcRo1z4_F9jm3KmnJFKv_qWORVVFc37J1rBc-WLbg6ZZhQ8DO6GzSuvIIVYnucpcu_U_ZzoupbNINL70aC6K1IyI8tg57xyd9EQnEIipsv9yubte_gxcninakSWWj9eWIaxv10/s1080/InSunshineorInShadow_MetaAd_Squarev2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT3DSrOyg5Hlg_3kcn2Z4n9uo1qRnuKOH7vAlEebIQMt4GJDtp7RXu8qcRo1z4_F9jm3KmnJFKv_qWORVVFc37J1rBc-WLbg6ZZhQ8DO6GzSuvIIVYnucpcu_U_ZzoupbNINL70aC6K1IyI8tg57xyd9EQnEIipsv9yubte_gxcninakSWWj9eWIaxv10/s320/InSunshineorInShadow_MetaAd_Squarev2.png" width="320" /></a></p><p>Our aim when we write, as well as telling a compelling whodunit, is to immerse the reader in real history, to transport to a time and place. We hope you’ll enjoy being in the Catskills this time. And if you go to our Reds and Readers Facebook group and comment on the live feed you’ll get a chance for a signed copy of the new book.</p>Jungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-34580065493382246522024-03-11T00:30:00.001-04:002024-03-11T00:30:00.139-04:00Every Last Drop?<p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://hankphillippiryan.com">HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN</a></span><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">: Do you all carry around a water bottle? I have been in</span><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> so</span><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> many airports recently, and I see people in the screening line, frantically gulping the water from their personal bottles–aluminum, plastic, glass, decorated, simple, massive, tiny, whatever– and they are slugging down water like mad.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I see so many backpacks with water bottles,dangling from them, and people with water bottles in their tote bags and purses, and tucked into the sides of their suitcases. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhxVq81YA86w_94uDOATquIxk25MahQgs8D2yj8btfAyWx2vnrlYSxRc4J1_yYqnPznvrXu5OUxY1IaHguBgRQz-rqqVHof86Z8U7xW07ynit5ArvvPYKoCh8VylZIyP7BAMeD1nEK_xJATEf5ti2piUsojFDWCEYeEwsifIzmHJA5D6HcXu3X9od5rE-Q/s1920/wat%20bot.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhxVq81YA86w_94uDOATquIxk25MahQgs8D2yj8btfAyWx2vnrlYSxRc4J1_yYqnPznvrXu5OUxY1IaHguBgRQz-rqqVHof86Z8U7xW07ynit5ArvvPYKoCh8VylZIyP7BAMeD1nEK_xJATEf5ti2piUsojFDWCEYeEwsifIzmHJA5D6HcXu3X9od5rE-Q/s320/wat%20bot.jpeg" width="240" /></a></span></span></div><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br />The wonderful people at Lark and Owl Bookstore gave me this gorgeous sleek one as a gift, which I absolutely adore, and it made me start to wonder – – you know, I don’t carry a water bottle around. I don’t search for water, or think about water very much. Maybe I should start? With this bottle as an inspiration?</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">I moused around the Internet, and found by <b>“asking how much water do you really need to drink?”</b> that the answers are anywhere from 8 cups a day to 15.5 cups a day. I have never had 15 cups of water a day. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">One article I read said <b>the advice to drink 8 cups of water </b>a day comes from a 1945 recommendation from the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council. Anyone, anyone? But now experts are arguing you don’t really need that much water. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">Yes, there are times when I have been “thirsty," and I know that’s a bad thing. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">One quote I found, and I have no idea who this person is, said the reality is that <b>people have been kind of making it up about the guidelines</b>. That it’s all based on individual, metabolism, and climate, and age and activity. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; color: #242424; font-weight: 400; text-align: center;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUotcnlnMmgTmZQrGZMr7JRdab7g6Oo7KhNZRrEm72QxB6VpnnIwJwwf0ksTv5sj89FtWiZgscfyevbHYcT3kcVkqUhs16WwMRIIHlgDgcW01W94IyPg2aqWAIELfNRTwFS8C5aS3ZP4j1EoYRbqpAOfOTXEnFqy7LMUMEQeuX1qjb4bJx4fy6dVX1XV1W/s1080/Your%20paragraph%20text%20(4).png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUotcnlnMmgTmZQrGZMr7JRdab7g6Oo7KhNZRrEm72QxB6VpnnIwJwwf0ksTv5sj89FtWiZgscfyevbHYcT3kcVkqUhs16WwMRIIHlgDgcW01W94IyPg2aqWAIELfNRTwFS8C5aS3ZP4j1EoYRbqpAOfOTXEnFqy7LMUMEQeuX1qjb4bJx4fy6dVX1XV1W/s320/Your%20paragraph%20text%20(4).png" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia;"><br />So Reds and Readers, how attached are you to your water bottle? </span></b></span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b><br /></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><b>How careful are you about hydration?</b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="http://lucyburdette.com" target="_blank">LUCY BURDETTE:</a> Very attached! You might remember that I have Meniere’s disease, which causes vertigo and tinnitus among other unpleasant symptoms. Medical people don’t have much to offer on this, so I have been seeing a naturopath who has given me a normal life back. The first thing he insisted on was lots of water–I’m supposed to drink 64 oz a day. I mostly do, especially when I’m home and can visit the loo often! He has a way he can measure my hydration so I can’t fib about it either LOL.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-9b6b4282-7fff-e678-c659-45c00ca343dc" style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;">HANK: That is fascinating! I wonder why that works…</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://hallieephron.com">HALLIE EPHRON: </a>My doctor also has me drinking A LOT of water. Turns out it has many benefits. And my daughter gave me that carrying cup that’s been an internet sensation. I have not opened it yet. But then right now I’m mostly home. Where there’s a water faucet. And a refrigerator. </span><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">It’s not too bad if I also count the liquid I drink… coffee, soup, pretty much anything wet can be counted.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-family: georgia; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">(HANK: You mean the Stanley Cup? That's another thing that got me thinking about this. Anyone have one? We want a full report!)</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY8VVNDVmuLJk6qUU_x8eB6RLWxluyZzvHajgRQfqLA7J5vYDWOH1zGvGBbKx_WV_ijxq7uFuiaG7M1Wh2ox18FcR4e0tUGQTufhAW299SwwKiklXAJxas_1WmeXeC3esLLewKaPLh_GQ2DTEOhHfe6yQ6QohmKv8qXLD700YNqhqbrFILxNC8Wohfy0Cx/s1080/Your%20paragraph%20text%20(5).png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjY8VVNDVmuLJk6qUU_x8eB6RLWxluyZzvHajgRQfqLA7J5vYDWOH1zGvGBbKx_WV_ijxq7uFuiaG7M1Wh2ox18FcR4e0tUGQTufhAW299SwwKiklXAJxas_1WmeXeC3esLLewKaPLh_GQ2DTEOhHfe6yQ6QohmKv8qXLD700YNqhqbrFILxNC8Wohfy0Cx/s320/Your%20paragraph%20text%20(5).png" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><a href="http://rhysbowen.com">RHYS BOWEN: </a>I know I should drink more water, but 64 ounces? I’d be rushing to the loo all day and all night! I reckon that I have enough fluids including teas, soup, juices etc. my kids carry their water bottles everywhere with them. I used to when I hiked. But I do have a glass beside me when I’m driving.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="http://deborahcrombie.com">DEBORAH CROMBIE:</a> I do drink a lot of water, and as I don’t drink sodas or iced tea, that’s pretty much all I drink other than my two cups of hot tea every day. I don’t measure, but my drinking glass is 16 oz, and I refill at least three or four times a day, maybe more. I do also carry a travel bottle (my favorite was bought at the Key West airport!) but I also fall down on my hydration when traveling. I don’t want to be on the road or on the plane and desperate for the loo every five minutes! Oh, and I always carry water with me in the summer in Texas–it’s essential. I have a good insulated bottle for that, but that one is heavier than I like to use for travel.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-6373d6f0-7fff-0e72-aeac-4a3c83274406" style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25HohKnCvK8pIFtdb-mL4sMZy38d_xqt31yH8Lf3lBQVKr6U4_DQ_Eoi_RvPH-r6wdd2OXuAVfH3KoY9uZoA9_iAoXfYyDK6OANEPahWkLWYZIH4QH64EKerD0XWOyNagUSryhogqbTEkCrdqXD8MHri2355iYCT4DxjLeli_K7sF0k28t5SCZAgwfPRC/s1080/Your%20paragraph%20text%20(3).png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25HohKnCvK8pIFtdb-mL4sMZy38d_xqt31yH8Lf3lBQVKr6U4_DQ_Eoi_RvPH-r6wdd2OXuAVfH3KoY9uZoA9_iAoXfYyDK6OANEPahWkLWYZIH4QH64EKerD0XWOyNagUSryhogqbTEkCrdqXD8MHri2355iYCT4DxjLeli_K7sF0k28t5SCZAgwfPRC/s320/Your%20paragraph%20text%20(3).png" width="320" /></a></span></span></div><span face="Roboto, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /><a href="http://jennmckinlay.com">JENN McKINLAY:</a> I live in the desert so I am a big water drinker. I don’t measure the amount, but the Hooligans gave me a hefty metal pink water bottle and I dutifully fill it and drink it dry every day. I have noticed when I’m in a cooler climate, I don’t drink as much.</span></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://juliaspencerfleming.con" target="_blank">JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING:</a> I agree with Jenn; I had to train myself to drink more water in the winter, when my drafty old farmhouse is always cool. I used to be terrible with soda and powdered drinks; I’ve replaced them with water over the past six or seven years. I have six reusable glass water bottles in the fridge (got the idea from my friend Jessica Ellicott) and I </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">try</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> - not always successfully - to drink them all in a day. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-073a20cc-7fff-3485-a4db-98a01c1e63da"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: large;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">For those of us who fall short, I have good news from my doctor: he said your body counts </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-style: italic; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">all</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> water in your diet, including what’s contained in fruits, veggies, and even meat!</span></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: #242424;">HANK: </span><b><span style="color: red;">Water, anyone? Do you carry a water bottle? Are you conscious of how much water you do--or don't--drink?</span></b></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #242424; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="color: #242424; font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: georgia; white-space-collapse: preserve;">I am in the air most of the day--and hoping there's wi-fi so I can check in! If not...you all keep talking, okay? And I promise to catch up.</span></span></p>Jungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.com63tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-1324952207736718492024-03-10T03:00:00.001-04:002024-03-10T03:00:00.135-04:00This years Oscars - Say what??<p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://hallieephron.com">HALLIE EPHRON: </a>Tonight is (drum roll, please) <span style="color: red;">THE ACADEMY AWARDS!</span>
</span></p><span style="font-size: large;">
I remember the days when I'd actually seen nearly all of the movies nominated. Today, not so much.
<br /><br />
Here are the movies nominated for best picture of 2023:
<br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />"American Fiction"
<br />"Anatomy of a Fall"
<br />"Barbie"
<br />"The Holdovers"
<br />"Killers of the Flower Moon"
<br />"Maestro"
<br />"Oppenheimer"
<br />"Past Lives"
<br />"Poor Things"
<br />"The Zone of Interest"
<br /><br />
I am chagrined to admit it, but I have seen exactly one.
<br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPvKih3jy6SWp2lOyuhi28mcN71ULU5CycmUQaWrZ5aWllbPsCSIBkxeVNRl9RYk_ct2mdnoWCm30Rj-zMY9YfLMg-fPz3SKObG1YUYLhiXhq6ROhrXNqNhlnaVwbd2X827YevAYKeotcCpZhcj0x0POb0oO6TZzCdnE8vay-1nOCHOEwY99RMSxclh6w/s522/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-09%20at%204.50.03%20PM.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="294" data-original-width="522" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPvKih3jy6SWp2lOyuhi28mcN71ULU5CycmUQaWrZ5aWllbPsCSIBkxeVNRl9RYk_ct2mdnoWCm30Rj-zMY9YfLMg-fPz3SKObG1YUYLhiXhq6ROhrXNqNhlnaVwbd2X827YevAYKeotcCpZhcj0x0POb0oO6TZzCdnE8vay-1nOCHOEwY99RMSxclh6w/s320/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-09%20at%204.50.03%20PM.png" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />I actually went to a movie theatre to see it and had a blast, though I could not get the closed-captioning thingy to work and I still, after all these years, refuse to spring for popcorn. The seats are much more comfy than they used to be, and sightlines pretty great. The movie was... fun, inventive, diverting. <br /></span>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
The scary thing is I do not know anything about most of the other movies on the list. Not what they're about or who's in them or why they're considered Oscar-worthy.
<br /><br />
That got me wondering how different this year is from, say, ten years ago.<span style="color: red;"> Here were 2013's nominees:
</span><br /><br />Amour
<br />Argo
<br />Beasts of the Southern Wild
<br />Django Unchained
<br />Les Miserables
<br />Life of Pi
<br />Lincoln
<br />Silver Linings Playbook
<br />Zero Dark Thirty
<br /><br />At least I've heard of most of these movies, though I only actually saw one (Silver Linings Playbook).
<br /><br />
Go back ten more years to <span style="color: red;">2003</span>, pre-streaming, and there were half as many nominees...
<br />Chicago
<br />Gangs of New York
<br />The Hours
<br />Lord of the RIngs: The Two Towers
<br />The Pianist.
<br /><br />
At least in this list I'm familiar with all of them, and have actually seen four.
<br /><br />
I know the movie business is changing, what with streaming. And there are no more box office blockbuster stars like Elizabeth Taylor or Cary Grant. But it surprises even me the extent to which the Oscars have become so ... irrelevant to the average movie lovers experience. After all, we're certainly glued to our "screens."<br /><br />
I'll end by recommending a movie I did see and enjoyed: Taylor Swift's ERAS The Eras Tour.
<br /><br />
And a new TV show that will appeal to mystery fans like me and is on CBS (streaming on Paramount) - ELSBETH.</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHusXhGLi413TAsHG754Ys53uvD0kkUrw1Osch8X1Ua_WUV6kp1UJoGfXqsU9wd3oHXs0ksgzZa_YNwclJBklYf1xTjZiHHsCnGeBpgqz1rw9Y505DJLF9QXSy03yzrfoy9ighYDogrPxgQCCwQ2kmppzDDKMVYsY3HwuwURGxOSUSuS1B44ACbKtix9Q/s330/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-09%20at%204.46.35%20PM.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="197" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHusXhGLi413TAsHG754Ys53uvD0kkUrw1Osch8X1Ua_WUV6kp1UJoGfXqsU9wd3oHXs0ksgzZa_YNwclJBklYf1xTjZiHHsCnGeBpgqz1rw9Y505DJLF9QXSy03yzrfoy9ighYDogrPxgQCCwQ2kmppzDDKMVYsY3HwuwURGxOSUSuS1B44ACbKtix9Q/s320/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-09%20at%204.46.35%20PM.png" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
It features a character I loved, a quirky attorney from THE GOOD WIFE, Elsbeth Tascioni, portrayed by Carrie Preston. In the first episode she sleuths out a killer by the way that a (supposed) suicide note is typed. I've got my fingers crossed that the subsequent episodes are as much fun and easily cruise past my mystery writer's sniff test.
<br /><span style="color: red;"><br />
So have you seen any of this year's best picture nominees and what are you rooting for? Is there a movie you wish had been nominated?</span></span>
Hallie Ephronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-13367941857184742782024-03-09T03:00:00.031-05:002024-03-09T12:00:14.886-05:00Is it forTAY or FORT? The grammarian...<p> </p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://hallieephron.com">HALLIE EPHRON: </a><span style="color: red;">My mother couldn’t help herself.</span> When I would ask her something like, “Can I go to that movie,” she’d answer, “You can, but you may not.”
<br /><br />
Some things simply could not go uncorrected. If anyone within earshot commented, “That’s your forte,” meaning strong suit, and pronouncing it for-TAY, she’d correct them. It was pronounced FORT, she insisted. (Nowadays dictionaries mostly consider FORT correct... so there!) <br /><br />Words were her business. She’d been an English major at college, spoke French and Yiddish, and co-wrote screenplays with my dad. She recited poetry at the dinner table and routinely aced the literature questions on College Bowl, which we watched together. <br /><br />Her "mothering" began with reading to us and ended with correcting us. Heady stuff.<br />
</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF3KP_gNcUogA2R1_rY8pjUI-CNuURzB305I2Ss4BNDSkXKY2Huwam1lFUbuWjPdh_4_zlluLs9JUCJDnW4WZQ7-AR4KyxFcDX_7smFDBOGNCYepfIYv8JHCXJwyM9v1Htvpu8QDbdj3tJMAcJ29WpOm1btBQyH1nXDx09SYXD9H8vIYEc_DgQwDjn-vg/s362/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-08%20at%2010.56.31%20AM.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="362" data-original-width="280" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF3KP_gNcUogA2R1_rY8pjUI-CNuURzB305I2Ss4BNDSkXKY2Huwam1lFUbuWjPdh_4_zlluLs9JUCJDnW4WZQ7-AR4KyxFcDX_7smFDBOGNCYepfIYv8JHCXJwyM9v1Htvpu8QDbdj3tJMAcJ29WpOm1btBQyH1nXDx09SYXD9H8vIYEc_DgQwDjn-vg/s320/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-08%20at%2010.56.31%20AM.png" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /><span style="color: red;">I try not to correct to other people</span> at social or family gatherings. Although I inherited my mother’s voice, forever in my head, bossing the rest of the world around and dinging misspoken words. <br /><br />
When it comes to my writing (or when I’m asked to reviewed other people’s work), I do find myself engaged in a <span style="color: red;">war against redundancy</span> of which I’m sure my mother would approve.
<br /><br />
“Stand up.” “Sit down.” “Suddenly exploded.”
<br /><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;">Unable to help myself, I release my inner grammarian and the (virtual) blue pencil in my hand.</span><span style="font-size: large;">You don’t need to say up or down or suddenly. The verbs stand, sit, and explode do the heavy lifting all by themselves. <br />
</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvT56vaSsHyAw2tSQWtR7zsljHw0a-fdXu711oEhMfefcUNK3bfvao31Jrgh3FhzGdfyy8UoiKGtjJmJNyeKCE3Fs_2RZ45Zuc8uOmAjqfIn4bzXgotjb3h965YzRjwFxKgiot8ljMP_M4Hsxya9KkX9azx9Iep3YHZsWlC5GUxZvkRrdzZnc8Sdt1RFY/s386/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-08%20at%2010.53.15%20AM.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="386" data-original-width="294" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvT56vaSsHyAw2tSQWtR7zsljHw0a-fdXu711oEhMfefcUNK3bfvao31Jrgh3FhzGdfyy8UoiKGtjJmJNyeKCE3Fs_2RZ45Zuc8uOmAjqfIn4bzXgotjb3h965YzRjwFxKgiot8ljMP_M4Hsxya9KkX9azx9Iep3YHZsWlC5GUxZvkRrdzZnc8Sdt1RFY/s320/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-08%20at%2010.53.15%20AM.png" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
There are a few verbs that I want to pick up my blue pencil and smite completely. One them is gifted -- as in <i>she <span style="color: red;">gifted </span>me her lucky baseball cap</i>. When GAVE will do. ("Gifted" works perfectly well as an adjective, as in "she was a gifted grammarian." But it is not a verb. As I'm sure my mother would have agreed.)</span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Though I'm not averse to the occasional inspired transformation of a noun to a verb. P. L. Travers in <i>Mary Poppins </i>wrote the March children <span style="color: red;">trapezing</span> across the room. Lovely inventive image.<br /><span style="color: red;"><br />
Are there faux pas that you simple cannot allow to glide by, or are you pretty mellow when it comes to grammar and usage? </span></span></div>Hallie Ephronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.com123tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-83673183556740154872024-03-08T03:00:00.025-05:002024-03-08T09:08:59.789-05:00'Fessing up to NEVER... until now<p><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">THE 3 WINNERS OF ARCS of Liz Milliron's <i>The Secrets We Keep </i>are (tah dah!) <b>KAREN IN OHIO</b>, <b>TRAVELER</b>, and <b>WESKI</b>! Please each of you contact Liz (mary@marysuttonauthor.com) with the address to which you'd likke her to mail your copy (in the US).</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /><a href="http://hallieephron.com"><b>HALLIE EPHRON:</b></a> When I read Jenn’s Facebook post about going to a rock concert featuring Brian Seltzer, I thought (not for the first time): "Brian who?" Not surprising since I’m of an, ahem, different generation.</span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><br />
But it surprises even me that <span style="color: red;">I’ve never EVER been to a rock concert,</span> unless you count seeing a Joan Baez in a 1963 concert with a guest appearance by her friend, a then relatively unknown Bob Dylan (I thought he was awful, prescient being that I am). <br /><br />
Last year, Oprah published a list of<span style="color: red;"> “never have I ever”</span> prompts. Here are a half dozen of my favorites…
<br /><br />
Never have I ever…
<br />1. played hooky from school or work
<br />2. stolen anything
<br />3. missed a flight
<br />4. ridden a motorcycle
<br />5. been on a blind date
<br />6. gotten a tattoo
<br /><br />(I’m two for 6, but I'm not saying which, though I will tell you that my high school boyfriend drove a motorcycle and if I had a tattoo I'd never tell you what or where.)
<br />
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So what have you NEVER that would surprise the rest of us?
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<a href="http://www.jennmckinlay.com/"><b>JENN McKINLAY:</b></a> I think people who know me are most surprised that I’ve <span style="color: red;">never gotten a tattoo or been arrested</span> (not issuing a challenge, Universe!). Honestly, I’m not that much of a wild child but back in the day…well…many bad decisions were made. <br /><br />
Otherwise, there isn’t much I haven’t done. No regrets!
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<b><a href="http://www.hankphillippiryan.com/">HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:</a> </b>Ah….eaten a baked bean? Had a massage? Are those surprising? I’ve never seen Beaches or Terms of Endearment or Steel Magnolias. I’ve never watched Schitt’s Creek. I have <span style="color: red;">never read Persuasion</span>. And of that list? I have not done 2 of them.
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<a href="http://www.lucyburdette.com/"><b>LUCY BURDETTE:</b></a> No tattoo, no arrests. Many beans. Jenn and I can probably agree it’s a good thing we didn’t cross paths in our <span style="color: red;">wild child years</span>–bad decisions would have been made double time!
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<a href="http://rhysbowen.com/"><b>RHYS BOWEN:</b></a> Never read Persuasion, Hank? I almost divorced John on the spot because he didn’t know who Jane Bennett was! <br /><br />I’ve eaten many baked beans but I have to say the English Heinz beans are so much nicer than the US pork and beans. Never got a tattoo. Never will. <br /><br />I was about to say I never played hooky from school but then I remembered my headmistress wouldn’t give me permission to have the day off to attend a ballet competition in London. So I faked a cold, went to London and… guess who got into the same compartment on the train? My headmistress. I had to hide behind a newspaper all the way.
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I’ve never been on a blind date. There are loads of current musicians I’ve never heard of. Loads of famous books I’ve never read. But <span style="color: red;">I was young in the swinging Sixties and dated a rock guitar player, hitchhiked around Europe, </span>so I’ve had my moments…
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<a href="http://www.deborahcrombie.com/"><b>DEBORAH CROMBIE:</b></a> Copying Lucy on no arrests, no tattoos (although I have thought about it) and many beans!
I have never been on a blind date. Otherwise, I was a bit of a wild child as a teenager so can't brag on the rest of the list.
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I have never had an espresso martini! Still not convinced I should add that to my life list… Have <span style="color: red;">never read Moby Dick, or War in Peace, or Lady Chatterly's Lover, </span>and many other famous novels. But Persuasion! Hank! Maybe we should do a Jungle Red Book Club reading!
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<a href="http://www.juliaspencerfleming.com/"><b>JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: </b></a>Of your faves, Hallie, never have I ever gone on a blind date or ridden a motorcycle (although I have a great picture of my mom, then in her mid-70s, riding on my brother Tim’s machine, so maybe never say never for that one.)
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Of Oprah’s list, I’ve definitely never bribed someone, and I’m thinking how that would work in my life. Slip bookstore clerks a $20 to display my novels front and center?
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Some of her questions are ambiguous, too, like “fallen asleep in public.” What counts as public? I mean, I’ve never taken a nap in a city park, but on the other hand, there are probably loads of people who have spotted me zonked out and drooling on flights, trains and buses.
<br /><br /><span style="color: red;">
My fave? “Never have I ever made up a story about someone who wasn’t real.” Girl, that’s how I make my living!
</span><br /><br /><b>
HALLIE:</b> <span style="color: red;">SO what have you never ever ever (until now) done that might surprise us?</span></span>Hallie Ephronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.com85tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-2767136600373208362024-03-07T03:00:00.003-05:002024-03-07T16:00:24.983-05:00Liz Miliron mines family dynamics for her series #bookgiveaway<p> <span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b><a href="http://hallieephron.com">HALLIE EPHRON:</a></b> It's with the greatest pleasure that I welcome Liz Milliron, a regular presence here on Jungle Red Writers. (I feel a special affinity for Liz since we both from writing (very exciting) technical material to writing crime novels.)</span></p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />
Liz's stories about where she gets her ideas are astounding. We should all have such colorful relatives!<br /><br />
Welcome, Liz!
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<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />
<b><a href="https://lizmilliron.com/">LIZ MILLIRON:</a></b> Thanks for hosting me today, Hallie. It’s always fun visiting the “front side” of the blog.
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You may be surprised to learn, reader, that I’m in the family way.
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No, not like that. I’m way past my childbearing age, at least psychologically speaking. I’m talking in my fiction. Let me explain.
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When I sat down to write <i><b>Thicker Than Water</b></i>, the sixth in the Laurel Highlands Mysteries and which came out last year, I made a deliberate decision to explore family dynamics. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">
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<br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">It seemed a natural point at which to do so. Jim and Sally were taking their relationship to a deeper level. Once a couple does that, discussion about family comes up. In that book I wanted to explore what makes a family, feelings toward family, the various definitions and types of families, and chosen vs. biological family.</span></span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">Then came <b><i>The Secrets We Keep.</i></b></span><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzWSLI5hlPv7aik259tR-FoNgA2c0w3SuxinvHHbYhnNxti2oqVL42tsqJQFliUFFZ3TxVsSg3FX1MJYwVPSDIL1w-2-QERct15bVB7mRA0bvuwGQwZoCYCZICWysU14Ss8Fg7wqAijeiz24uuW6787WGZCzO9GMODrI51JbPGCQhq0-W4Fz44MmeCQ0g/s1024/THE-SECRETS-WE-KEEP-cover-FINAL-682x1024.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="682" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzWSLI5hlPv7aik259tR-FoNgA2c0w3SuxinvHHbYhnNxti2oqVL42tsqJQFliUFFZ3TxVsSg3FX1MJYwVPSDIL1w-2-QERct15bVB7mRA0bvuwGQwZoCYCZICWysU14Ss8Fg7wqAijeiz24uuW6787WGZCzO9GMODrI51JbPGCQhq0-W4Fz44MmeCQ0g/s320/THE-SECRETS-WE-KEEP-cover-FINAL-682x1024.jpg" /></a></div>
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In this book, Betty is hired by a soldier home on medical leave. He was raised in an orphanage and was always told he was left in the church. He grew up satisfied with the story, but his brush with death has made him determined to find his biological mother. Of course secrets – and murder – are involved, leading Betty to think about the cost of exposing long-held family truths. Not only that, Betty has to deal with her feelings about her fiancé – and the handsome new man in her life who is definitely interested in more than friendship.
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Currently, I’m working on <b><i>The Lies We Live</i></b>, the sixth Homefront Mystery, and<span style="color: red;"> family secrets</span> and relationship issues again take center stage. Betty’s client is concerned for her brother and Betty has to face her fiancé when he returns from the war, discharged because of an injury.<br /></span><span style="font-family: arial;"><br /><span style="font-size: large;">
This intrigued me. I looked at my past books, especially the historicals. </span><b style="font-size: x-large;"><i>The Enemy We Don’t Know</i> </b><span style="font-size: large;">explored the relationship between cousins and how it affected the crime. </span><b style="font-size: x-large;"><i>The Stories We Tell</i></b><span style="font-size: large;"> involved a character’s grandmother and her potential connections, previously unknown, with the Polish government in exile. </span><b style="font-size: x-large;"><i>The Lessons We Learn</i></b><span style="font-size: large;"> revolved around the death of a character’s father and the toll his hidden life took on his family. </span><b style="font-size: x-large;"><i>The Truth We Hide</i></b><span style="font-size: large;"> again touched on family dynamics, in this case the estrangement of the victim from his father.
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Do you see a pattern here?
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None, or very little, of this was planned. My own family history is pretty boring. No deep secrets, no infamous ancestors. My grandfather’s family was full of functioning alcoholics. They owned a bar, which seems to be a bad business model for a family of drinkers. I know my father’s Uncle Fran fell off a dock in Buffalo and drowned (a story I mined for </span><i style="font-size: x-large;">Lessons</i><span style="font-size: large;">, although Uncle Fran wasn’t murdered).
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My grandfather always described his mother as a “mean old lady,” something my father seconded. There is the story of how she smuggled whiskey into the country from Canada by hiding the bottles in the door panels of her car. One night, the chief of police and the head of Customs at the Peace Bridge showed up at her door. They didn’t want to arrest her. They wanted a drink. (That story may be a tad apocryphal, I don’t know.) But that isn’t a secret.
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I know a little about my paternal grandmother’s family. Her brother was a cop and a recovering alcoholic. Her sister-in-law drove a bus. They both told all the stories, though. I know a little more about my maternal grandmother’s family because my aunt has done extensive genealogical research, but she makes all of them sound like saints. Nothing is known about my maternal grandfather’s family. He was a small child when they immigrated from Croatia and he never talked about them.
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Maybe it isn’t strange so many of my stories involve family secrets.</span><span style="font-size: large;"> With a family that doesn’t have secrets, at least that I know of, I want to submerse myself in those that do. Of course, maybe my family is awash in secrets. After all, if I knew about them, they wouldn’t be, well, secret, would they?
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Real or fictional, all I know is it’s a great subject to play with. And since my real life is so devoid of secrecy, I guess I’ll continue to make them up.
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Reds and readers, did your family have secrets? </span><span style="font-size: large;">Were they ever uncovered and, if so, what happened? </span><br /><span style="color: red; font-size: x-large;"><br />***I’ve got three ARCs of The <i>Secrets We Keep</i> I’ll give to three commentators (US only – sorry).***</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-size: medium;"><b><a href="https://lizmilliron.com/">Liz Milliron</a></b> is the author of The Laurel Highlands Mysteries series, set in the scenic Laurel Highlands and The Homefront Mysteries, set in Buffalo, NY during the early years of World War II. She is a co-host of the crime fiction podcast “Guns, Knives & Lipstick." Liz is a member of Pennwriters, Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and The Historical Novel Society and is the current vice-President of the Pittsburgh chapter of Sisters in Crime and the Education Liaison for the National SinC board. Liz lives in Pittsburgh with her son and a very spoiled retired-racer greyhound.
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<span style="color: red;"><b>About <i>Secrets We Keep</i>:</b>
</span>June, 1943 Betty Ahern isn’t a novice PI anymore. After solving several dangerous cases, she is hired for what she hopes will be simpler one. A soldier home from Europe on medical furlough wants her to find his birth mother. Left at a church and raised an orphan at Father Baker’s Home for Boys, his only clue is a silver St. Christopher medal with a French inscription on the back.
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Betty tracks down the unmarried daughter of a wealthy businessman who mysteriously vanished from society for several months in the early 1920s. Against her better judgment, Betty tells her client, who rushes off to meet her. But when the woman is found murdered, and her client is arrested for the crime, Betty must switch from locating a missing mother to clearing his name.
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Aided by some new partners, Betty once again delves into the secrets of Buffalo’s elite. What she finds threatens to rip open secrets long buried. Can she find a killer and reunite a family? Or will the hunt cost Betty and her client everything, including their lives?
<br /></span><br /></span></div></div>Hallie Ephronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.com73tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-17582380491282541492024-03-06T03:00:00.012-05:002024-03-07T16:02:35.475-05:00The Tooth Fairy gets pricey<p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://hallieephron.com">HALLIE EPHRON:</a> It’s been ages since I was the <span style="color: red;">tooth fairy</span>, but a poll from Delta Dental caught my eye, reporting that<span style="color: red;"> the average tooth fairy payout has increased 349% since 1998.</span></span></p>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnDPx_dau95YjG0_ROtNVuoYvTC7lbm-Fx1SYLhORVo8nfT0cf4aKMQ0ECbnoVOzMFXxofZfV1VvIKiBRCBku1EJbIArCdkzrYV_IOENP8QIg5A1PZrC1Rg8hzwhWd3Uwn2CiJvcHdBueK48M_T0rCXwXkXzzNT1Ws4TSVxyOz3x-8W64atDyMRxycgu0/s3334/2024%20Toothfairy_Index-800x493-RGB_Release.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2055" data-original-width="3334" height="394" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnDPx_dau95YjG0_ROtNVuoYvTC7lbm-Fx1SYLhORVo8nfT0cf4aKMQ0ECbnoVOzMFXxofZfV1VvIKiBRCBku1EJbIArCdkzrYV_IOENP8QIg5A1PZrC1Rg8hzwhWd3Uwn2CiJvcHdBueK48M_T0rCXwXkXzzNT1Ws4TSVxyOz3x-8W64atDyMRxycgu0/w640-h394/2024%20Toothfairy_Index-800x493-RGB_Release.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
Yikes! Talk about inflation... Nowadays, on average, a lost tooth nets nearly... SIX DOLLARS?? And “on average” means that half of the tooth fairies out there are shoveling out more than that. For a tooth!!<br /><br />
I don't remember what my tooth fairy delivered, but I do remember my father threatening to tie a string to that damned tooth and tie the other end of the string to the knob of an open bathroom door, and slam that door to yank out the tooth that I was very disgustingly playing with while it hung from a thread. ICK.
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Losing teeth was a big deal for my kids. My daughter Molly was bereft when she literally lost her first tooth in a neighbor’s snow bank and had to put a note explaining it under her pillow instead of the actual tooth.<br /><br />The trauma of it had us reading the wonderful ONE MORNING IN MAINE children's book to her, all about a little girl who loses her tooth while digging for clams. So traumatic. </span><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0G-zFUALN4xqWPBFkpbi2K7pDNzTQFYz2oJZva2KihyO8GMttlFmBw5QZNN-S37TRFPO8hdqWm8tOw0gF6qY2phyphenhyphenAD0aU0ZQ4mkkXwnbgIZJuA5sD7hGiCI2ALOc3cD7U6TNZh9h7I_hbCesMtyPY6zQNie2bxwzOAo_1-OBvr4coadv-I4c1JNcMvAc/s546/OneMorningMaine.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="546" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0G-zFUALN4xqWPBFkpbi2K7pDNzTQFYz2oJZva2KihyO8GMttlFmBw5QZNN-S37TRFPO8hdqWm8tOw0gF6qY2phyphenhyphenAD0aU0ZQ4mkkXwnbgIZJuA5sD7hGiCI2ALOc3cD7U6TNZh9h7I_hbCesMtyPY6zQNie2bxwzOAo_1-OBvr4coadv-I4c1JNcMvAc/s320/OneMorningMaine.jpg" width="195" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br />After that Molly always left a note for the tooth fairy, hoping that flattery would make the tooth fairy more generous. I don't think it worked.<br />
</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN9r_RQAYkH6xycqP5bS2p6cwBFTghbYbJgOOmLEt9ptczKGBcFBYOz6XLMajot_-wJYKBsmSxAN1SSZgie3zK6dmqBuf-V2-6n3T_caRJIgLzoq3JU53D5wrfKOGzHEGGVS1mrjJHsPiKmZjnutDaXa2c8GAaEK106VQ47PtrGpLO8tAeGvRVHl7Dlys/s640/MollyToothFairyNote.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiN9r_RQAYkH6xycqP5bS2p6cwBFTghbYbJgOOmLEt9ptczKGBcFBYOz6XLMajot_-wJYKBsmSxAN1SSZgie3zK6dmqBuf-V2-6n3T_caRJIgLzoq3JU53D5wrfKOGzHEGGVS1mrjJHsPiKmZjnutDaXa2c8GAaEK106VQ47PtrGpLO8tAeGvRVHl7Dlys/w300-h400/MollyToothFairyNote.jpg" width="300" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br />
When I asked Molly today about her memories of the tooth fairy, she said, “My tooth fairy was very cheap.”
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Which is exactly, to the word, what her sister Naomi said. “Cheap!” And by way of piling on, Naomi added. “One time we were in Switzerland and the tooth fairy thought I’d be excited to get foreign coins but it amounted to about 12 cents. I couldn’t even buy chocolates.”
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I asked her what her kids (my grands) get for a tooth and her answer was, “They get a dollar and they’re happy with that.” I did not say what I was thinking, but it rhymes with <i>bleep</i>.<br /><br /><span style="color: red;">
Did you survive the trauma of losing your first tooth? Do you have memories of the tooth fairy? Did you leave a note under your pillow? And what did the tooth fairy usually leave you?
</span><br /></span><br /></div>Hallie Ephronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.com68tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-63578043506228867002024-03-05T03:00:00.016-05:002024-03-05T16:11:45.974-05:00Stepping up! Kate Hohl gets nominated for her first published short story! <p> </p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="http://hallieephron.com">HALLIE EPHRON:</a> Okay, I admit it. I am <span style="color: red;">Kate Hohl's #1 fan</span>. She showed up in the summer workshop I gave a few years ago at Yale and her writing shone. She had talent, plain and simple. And she seemed to have the drive you need to start writing a story and pursue it long past the finish line and past the inevitable rejections that aspiring writers must endure.
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What happened next wasn't as straightforward as I'm sure it would have been in any other year. She should have had publishers queued up, wanting to publish her...
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But I'll let her tell it. It has a wonderfully happy ending and I trust more good news in the future.
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Take it away, Kate...
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KATE HOHL:</span> Hi Reds and Readers! A big thank you to Hallie and all the Reds for extending the invitation to join you again today on the Jungle Reds blog.
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I recently found out that my short story, “The Body in Cell Two” has been nominated for the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for Best Debut Short Story, presented by the Mystery Writers of America at the annual Edgar Awards. </span>I’m so grateful to Janet Hutchings and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine for publishing my story about a young woman who attempts to escape her past by running to a small Maine town only to have trouble find her once again.
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</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPF5NqOxa4TTqW93jrI4nZSeJvduJdD1629UTZdNpHLReP4J8N71XansYkaauvKo_L0ESOSwQvRx-kDEGhD5yFYvj9bUi_b4Q_M4vgVdoL_1Lpzrnmhwkh3ob-qolh1jOPD4HJTnTM9k0iv4H-rlgB1D9O96faO3G9cNVzQ_2nI8PYNZGb7BjYX4H1as0/s620/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-02%20at%205.07.10%20PM.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="410" data-original-width="620" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPF5NqOxa4TTqW93jrI4nZSeJvduJdD1629UTZdNpHLReP4J8N71XansYkaauvKo_L0ESOSwQvRx-kDEGhD5yFYvj9bUi_b4Q_M4vgVdoL_1Lpzrnmhwkh3ob-qolh1jOPD4HJTnTM9k0iv4H-rlgB1D9O96faO3G9cNVzQ_2nI8PYNZGb7BjYX4H1as0/w640-h424/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-02%20at%205.07.10%20PM.png" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">
It was such a thrill to see my name in print for the first time and a huge honor to be nominated for my first published work. But it was far from the first thing I’d written.
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</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVYDilSSDo0V6c4hIF9YI-m-mlIk-qysSghewGl-4ttXGG3JhA_EjslwJmmnLbk9bdHVzWG4RPhw4nhBCcVVjssiQWVY6MwxmkCROPsPz0-YCCLS3cBg18Z8WuSnwn8Lo_pSA2TY1jM1tS-r6lxCJpXfQPyppC35XH2Vc8ciVUBb94IFm0eLNk1Kf2P0o/s420/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-02%20at%204.59.11%20PM.png" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="195" data-original-width="420" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVYDilSSDo0V6c4hIF9YI-m-mlIk-qysSghewGl-4ttXGG3JhA_EjslwJmmnLbk9bdHVzWG4RPhw4nhBCcVVjssiQWVY6MwxmkCROPsPz0-YCCLS3cBg18Z8WuSnwn8Lo_pSA2TY1jM1tS-r6lxCJpXfQPyppC35XH2Vc8ciVUBb94IFm0eLNk1Kf2P0o/s320/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-02%20at%204.59.11%20PM.png" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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A few years ago, I won a novel writing contest. Like many first-time authors, I was beyond excited. But then I read the fine print. The terms of the deal and the fact that it would only be available online made me feel uneasy, but what could I do? I couldn’t turn down the opportunity, right?
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That summer I was accepted at Yale Writers’ Workshop where I met Hallie who was teaching the Mystery and Crime Fiction section. I confided in her that I had doubts about this path for my debut novel. On the other hand, if I turned down the offer, it would mean starting from scratch and writing another book. <br /><br /><span style="color: red;">Hallie smiled and gently reminded me that I was a writer. </span>The goal should always be to write the next book. And then she gave me the best advice of all: to trust my gut and believe in my writing.
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I decided to pass on the contest and wrote a second novel. I signed up to pitch it to agents at the <span style="color: red;">Writer’s Digest Conference in New York</span>. Picture the most frenetic speed dating session you can imagine – with most of the interest and intensity on the side of the writers.
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I had a great conversation with one of the agents, Moses Cardona with John Hawkins and Associates, who agreed to represent me. We worked together to make cuts and additions. Finally, the book was ready to be sent out on submission. I couldn’t believe it. This was really it. Everything I’d worked so hard for was finally happening…
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Then COVID hit.
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The publishing world, like the rest of us, was left reeling during those awful months that followed March 2020. When we finally received responses, the comments from the editors were flattering and encouraging, but ultimately didn’t result in any offers. <br /><br />For now, I’ve put that book aside.
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Because the world had changed so much, I wanted my next book to reflect the questions I had about the past and where our society was headed.
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My usual process before I begin a novel is to write a short story about the idea. During those lockdown months, I wrote two different stories. I decided to expand one of them into a novel that is currently out on submission. My agent submitted the other one to Ellery Queen. It was accepted for the May/June 2023 issue and it’s that story, “The Body in Cell Two”, that’s up for the Fish award.
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I could never have predicted that a short story would be my path to publishing</span>, but it’s turned out to be an amazing experience. Since the nomination, I’ve been invited to appear on a panel at <span style="color: red;">Malice Domestic in April: Short Stories: Quickly Connecting Reader to Character. (If you’re going to Malice, please come to the panel and say hello!).</span> <br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXapX7i6uJ5bTBex4rYPyC70LNfR25Y0X5vLLZM-vkEvigaH-lF8lNLv6irQW-4Fr9uWKi3kNr24HHEym19sj1Cgj9Nz5GvLJM8wWDwvL88QAg6q7Krotc7FQm0-Hx1CMicxRT4WsRGjxL81C3cpwDHT2QEAc6QSYeBfxTxbzXEY0ahHc8zCoM5hGtAn0/s3937/KateHohl.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3937" data-original-width="3346" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXapX7i6uJ5bTBex4rYPyC70LNfR25Y0X5vLLZM-vkEvigaH-lF8lNLv6irQW-4Fr9uWKi3kNr24HHEym19sj1Cgj9Nz5GvLJM8wWDwvL88QAg6q7Krotc7FQm0-Hx1CMicxRT4WsRGjxL81C3cpwDHT2QEAc6QSYeBfxTxbzXEY0ahHc8zCoM5hGtAn0/s320/KateHohl.jpeg" width="272" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />I’ll be attending the <span style="color: red;">Edgar Awards Ceremony </span>on May 1st. It’s such an honor to be included with all the other incredible nominees.</span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />
All of this happened because I took Hallie Ephron’s very good advice. To believe in myself and my writing process and see where it takes me.
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HALLIE: </span>It thrills me right down to my tippy-toes to share Kate's success! And it's a tribute to the maxim: be persistent, stick with it, talent will out! Sometimes you have to walk away from the low-hanging fruit to have a shot at the harder-to-reach prize.<br /><br /><span style="color: red;">I am confident that the next time Kate visits with us on Jungle Red it'll be to celebrate her debut novel.<br /></span></span></div>Hallie Ephronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.com52tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-1498898042277961582024-03-04T03:00:00.027-05:002024-03-04T03:00:00.186-05:00Bookstores are back!<p> <span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://hallieephron.com/">HALLIE EPHRON:</a> </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Our local news is full of reports of indie bookstores opening in </span><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: x-large;">Boston and the surrounding suburbs. And those that survived the pandemic are doing well, thank you very much.</span></p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />In my local mall, where a pre-pandemic Amazon Bookstore opened and promptly closed (yes, they did try brick and mortar), a </span><span style="color: red; font-family: arial;">Barnes & Noble</span><span style="font-family: arial;"> has opened and seems to be thriving. Long time stalwarts like <span style="color: red;">Porter Square Books are thriving</span>.</span></span><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />
</span><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvj-4f1NtD27W6iL7WoRjX9_SlKNDmTtlwXe5rjESBEw0qbg2o91v44PTPIRT57l_q7BnQvdq3zJiwcfjXnlRoS3sTDksFe0snDHyGKgUdKnDOqH18yqYFQLjENbm0_dGPNNbLUjErxTVkoUs91iNK9nX_kaQCyKdxQ4lK1WDuAgb16j6_io-9KTvege8/s1000/PorterSquare.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="750" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvj-4f1NtD27W6iL7WoRjX9_SlKNDmTtlwXe5rjESBEw0qbg2o91v44PTPIRT57l_q7BnQvdq3zJiwcfjXnlRoS3sTDksFe0snDHyGKgUdKnDOqH18yqYFQLjENbm0_dGPNNbLUjErxTVkoUs91iNK9nX_kaQCyKdxQ4lK1WDuAgb16j6_io-9KTvege8/s400/PorterSquare.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div>
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Wondering if the other Reds are finding the same thing in their parts of the world. Are independent bookstores opening, thriving? Or am I seeing the world through rose-tinted glasses?
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And from our whirlwind book tour guide Hank, how does it look on the ground (how many bookstores is she visiting?)
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<a href="http://www.jennmckinlay.com/">JENN McKINLAY:</a> I live down the street from the <span style="color: red;">Poisoned Pen</span> and they certainly do a bang up business. We also have a few other indie bookstores like <span style="color: red;">Changing Hands</span> and <span style="color: red;">Bookmans</span> that are also always busy. And, not for nothing, there are <span style="color: red;">thirteen (approx) Barnes and Nobles</span> in the Valley of the Sun, which is not known for being a super reader metro area.<br /><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsdjVh5IhTtR8a6PY7GdBalnj0KJLAj139fUjcHXAT_5_A93fFBP83ZqDyi31Etpk17ZnvMY_pj2XBSOn6LwAGBoWBxoR2_px9YDPRASml1suyuldHlZy9kFCwp97b5NtjM9_m2Y8kxo0M_8hh3upx1mxRNCn7ThlSQ39mQ3VABmSNPpe8TNOY28HNTdA/s400/JennRhysPoisonedPen.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="400" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsdjVh5IhTtR8a6PY7GdBalnj0KJLAj139fUjcHXAT_5_A93fFBP83ZqDyi31Etpk17ZnvMY_pj2XBSOn6LwAGBoWBxoR2_px9YDPRASml1suyuldHlZy9kFCwp97b5NtjM9_m2Y8kxo0M_8hh3upx1mxRNCn7ThlSQ39mQ3VABmSNPpe8TNOY28HNTdA/s320/JennRhysPoisonedPen.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvNZA8DN1dTRtdiOf0lIvOwz2Y603FNPCieASgLr5PY9fbEkRuM_9Qet2cUuv7dbDyPCr4xSWFB94b74kAUVkFbINHqGFYjfqrxugBCmLSVMkSx3CTF0HJdqLUdeocM6eNUWm-FlOn19Q4ueUG8-fBqXdUAsUphGgSa1tfkazx7QY-4xZ10f7eBB88Rzo/s4032/RippedBodice-JennsBook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvNZA8DN1dTRtdiOf0lIvOwz2Y603FNPCieASgLr5PY9fbEkRuM_9Qet2cUuv7dbDyPCr4xSWFB94b74kAUVkFbINHqGFYjfqrxugBCmLSVMkSx3CTF0HJdqLUdeocM6eNUWm-FlOn19Q4ueUG8-fBqXdUAsUphGgSa1tfkazx7QY-4xZ10f7eBB88Rzo/s320/RippedBodice-JennsBook.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br />I do know that the proprietors of the <span style="color: red;">Ripped Bodice</span>, a romance bookstore, in Culver City just opened their second location in Brooklyn, where I am chuffed that one of my books hangs on the wall. <br /><br /><br /><span style="color: red;">So, yup, it appears bookstores are back, baby! </span><br /><br />
<a href="http://rhysbowen.com/">RHYS BOWEN:</a>Jenn, I also signed at the Ripped Bodice Such a fun store.
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I’m also lucky as the wonderful <span style="color: red;">Book Passage</span> is my local store in summer and Poisoned Pen in the winter. I’ve had a close relationship with both those stores for over twenty years. Hallie and I both teach at the mystery writers conference at Book Passage in the summer.
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The only thing wrong with Book passage is that it draws all the big names and I mean really big names. So I might find myself speaking with Hilary Clinton the day before me and Tom Hanks the day after. Not entirely conducive to drawing a big crowd!
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We also have several good chains in the Bay Area including <span style="color: red;">Copperfields</span>. Lots of readers. Lots of book clubs. <span style="color: red;">I’d say the written word is flourishing.</span><br /><br />
<a href="http://www.deborahcrombie.com/">DEBORAH CROMBIE:</a> <span style="color: red;">Dallas</span> has several independent stores. One, <span style="color: red;">Interabang</span>, has been really successful and is getting in the big name authors. <br /><br />Also, there are<span style="color: red;"> fourteen Barnes & Nobles</span>, (two of them new in the last year) with two more coming in 2024! I’m a big fan of <span style="color: red;">Daunt’s books </span>in the UK so was hoping that the new CEO would do good things for B&N. I’m going to have to check out the new store nearest me, as I want to see the new design.
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As for my far north Dallas suburb, we have <span style="color: red;">Half Price Books</span>, a Dallas-based chain which sells new and used books. Ours is a great store, and the chain has been really successful, with over a hundred stores in nineteen states now.
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My daughter, by the way, has always dreamed of opening a bookshop on the town square here in McKinney. Maybe she’ll give us our indie one of these days!
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<a href="http://www.lucyburdette.com/">LUCY BURDETTE:</a> What fun that would be Debs! <br /><br />We have two local bookstores in Key West, very different from each other and very busy! <span style="color: red;">Key West Island books</span> is quirky, with some old and some new books and lots of personal attention. They sell my Key West mysteries like mad! <span style="color: red;">Books and Books</span> is more traditional and literary, and I love them too. </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">In Connecticut, <span style="color: red;">RJ Julia’s </span>appears to be going strong. I adore that store. So Fingers Crossed, they all survive at least as long as we do!
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<a href="http://www.juliaspencerfleming.com/">JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING:</a> I’ve always been very lucky to live in Northern New England: <span style="color: red;">we have far more independent bookstores than the big box ones</span>, mostly because of our lack of population density. (Keep in mind, there are literally two malls in the entire state of Maine.)
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The last time I went to the annual New England Independent Booksellers Ass’n conference was 2019 - of course - and I was stunned to meet several young booksellers who were opening their own shops. I asked my Very Tall Publicist, Hector DeJean, about it. “Yes!” he said. “It’s a trend. They’re coming back.”
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And of course, this was before the whole world shut down.
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As much as we leaned on getting everything delivered back then, I suspect the rebound is that many of us crave <span style="color: red;">community, closeness</span> - and the ability to browse in real life, rather then via an algorithm some programmers are pushing on us.
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<a href="http://www.hankphillippiryan.com/">HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:</a> Coming to you from the backseat of an Uber in Austin, Texas, and later tonight at the fabulous <span style="color: red;">Lark and Owl bookstore</span>. I have been in at least 10 independent bookstores across the country in the past dozen days or so, and I can tell you, they are absolutely flourishing.
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The people who work in the stores are wonderful and knowledgeable and clever and hilarious, completely well-read and eager to guide readers to their next favorite book.
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In my home territory, <span style="color: red;">An Unlikely Story</span> constantly brings in 50-100 attendees for an author, talk, and 300 for the likes of Ruth Ware, and Lisa Jewell it is an absolutely magical place, and somehow sprinkles fairy dust on all who enter. <br /><br /><span style="color: red;">Brookline Booksmith</span> has been hosting my launches for more than 10 years, and it is such a solid, reliable institution. Both stores pivoted during the height of the pandemic, and really served their readers, and no, they are thriving every day. Both have become supremely social media savvy, that’s for sure.
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What an absolute joy – – and what a relief!
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(Here’s a fantastic photo from <span style="color: red;">Page 158 Books in Wake Forest</span>— a treasure of a store.)
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<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /><br /><span style="color: red;"><a href="http://hallieephron.com">HALLIE:</a></span> I think Julia is right. After Covid lockdowns got us stuck in our homes, and the ease of Amazon delivery kept us there, we've emerged hungry not just for a great shopping experience but for COMPANY of likeminded folks in safe settings where we can linger, sip coffee, turn the pages, and talk about what we're reading.
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What do you think? Are you seeing a resurgence of bookstores in your backyard?</span></span></div></div>Hallie Ephronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.com84tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-48691103408354758722024-03-03T02:30:00.012-05:002024-03-03T02:30:00.135-05:00What We're Writing: Jenn is Blurbing<p> <span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.jennmckinlay.com" target="_blank">Jenn McKinlay</a>: Okay, so when I originally wrote this post I was officially out of contract, waiting to see if they publisher was interested in any more books from me. After fifty-plus manuscripts, you never know. I could have worn out my welcome. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Well, I'm happy to say that yesterday I signed a contract (for something new that I can't talk about yet) so I remain employed, which I'm sure the Hooligans' colleges appreciate. So, what am I writing? Since I've been in the upside-down/in-between for a couple of months, I've been working on proposals, blurbs for other authors' books - so many blurbs! - articles, blog posts, you know, all of the things we authors write in addition to our books.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I could talk about any of the above for they all take huge amounts of time, but I want to focus on author endorsements. These are not easy for me. I tend to write long and I think blurbs need to be short (no one has time to read these things) but they also need to be accurate. Describe the book enthusiastically but don't give the plot away. Very, very, tricky. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">So here are a few of my recent book blurbs, and I want your honest opinion. <span style="color: red;">Would any of these get you to buy the book? Or at the very least peak your interest? And do author endorsements matter to you at all or no?</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">Not for nothing, but there's a lot of pressure to gather endorsements and if y'all don't actually notice them or if they don't influence you to buy a book, well, that would be a relief actually. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDpcVoPkwi-9GRt30x-SfCMbwUAneYnTZD2U16Bdu8ZWQ1vL0jg-9LyRpsXAdzCWfK0gjN1UakX4xYNK-q68yx0SDn5kqFsojXKai6xuG2I-3P856BVopzZJK5thctBrPJlzYZD6q9m6DR1DVoh56kLCv5dNOyEhwwa6_tf6tkXDwySZReNGZ4xgNgMgoK/s436/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-01%20at%208.41.31%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="436" data-original-width="282" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDpcVoPkwi-9GRt30x-SfCMbwUAneYnTZD2U16Bdu8ZWQ1vL0jg-9LyRpsXAdzCWfK0gjN1UakX4xYNK-q68yx0SDn5kqFsojXKai6xuG2I-3P856BVopzZJK5thctBrPJlzYZD6q9m6DR1DVoh56kLCv5dNOyEhwwa6_tf6tkXDwySZReNGZ4xgNgMgoK/w259-h400/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-01%20at%208.41.31%20PM.png" width="259" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Ali <span class="il">Brady</span>'s UNTIL NEXT SUMMER beautifully captures everything that's magical and marvelous about long summer days, away camp, best friends, first kisses, finding your people and the place of your heart. When the Chickawah camp is placed in jeopardy, our protagonists try everything they can think of to save it. Rarely have I been so completely invested in the outcome of a story. In a word, it's Chicka-wonderful! Hey, if you know, you know and if you don't know you need to read UNTIL NEXT SUMMER! </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">--Jenn McKinlay</span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNqfLwG-EKecWCIskxsZI_PzkH0QmYjZXcMFzkKkUJJQPJ4NwJiORFGEV5YbNeJXk6Cm2Fbki1RxcjFVGMe28MIl-GiVsq3ph2SG_FJJA-fl1rM0HYngCqEEe1blh2UOIps8u1jtaA4Mckzc50h5yhKuA20bV-geyTNlmouXZ7ksYZHE0jYfcwDofHMDZg/s637/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-01%20at%208.40.42%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="637" data-original-width="422" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNqfLwG-EKecWCIskxsZI_PzkH0QmYjZXcMFzkKkUJJQPJ4NwJiORFGEV5YbNeJXk6Cm2Fbki1RxcjFVGMe28MIl-GiVsq3ph2SG_FJJA-fl1rM0HYngCqEEe1blh2UOIps8u1jtaA4Mckzc50h5yhKuA20bV-geyTNlmouXZ7ksYZHE0jYfcwDofHMDZg/w265-h400/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-01%20at%208.40.42%20PM.png" width="265" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">"Ellen <span class="il">Byron</span>'s newest mystery series is a laugh out loud, make you snort, tale </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">chock full of oddball characters in the delightfully rustic setting of an old motel. </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">Come for the laughs, stay for the puzzler of a mystery that will keep you up entirely </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">too late, trying to solve it." --Jenn McKinlay</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkrUNOOzG4zVKAd572BHr32e5z8gIu8-Dl0Dzj8VtR2qek1-UkD-xOou5C5-w_bIPHEEAn-Sstnc8Hce828F8AHEdrWwUnO-KdaeS4uR3217xyvzaO3f9Xv7guFZ1b0rWfVYS7uYq-gJy07aeSVtkuo-vlUDs19M8UjHDdXFBD_G6usDAUa4NHR0UTjY68/s372/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-01%20at%208.54.47%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="372" data-original-width="251" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkrUNOOzG4zVKAd572BHr32e5z8gIu8-Dl0Dzj8VtR2qek1-UkD-xOou5C5-w_bIPHEEAn-Sstnc8Hce828F8AHEdrWwUnO-KdaeS4uR3217xyvzaO3f9Xv7guFZ1b0rWfVYS7uYq-gJy07aeSVtkuo-vlUDs19M8UjHDdXFBD_G6usDAUa4NHR0UTjY68/w270-h400/Screen%20Shot%202024-03-01%20at%208.54.47%20PM.png" width="270" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Star Struck</i> is a delightful addition to <span class="il">McCown</span>'s Hollywood Mystery series! With her years of experience </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">in the industry,</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span class="il" style="font-size: x-large;">McCown</span><span style="font-size: x-large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">crafts a zinger of a whodunit with all the glitz and glam a reader could want, along </span><span style="font-size: x-large;">with a twisty turny mystery that readers will devour." --Jenn McKinlay</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;">Confession: I have only bought one book because of an author endorsement and I hated it. I've never given them so much as a glance ever since. Shocking, I know.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div></div><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div></div>Jenn McKinlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13589365995413467367noreply@blogger.com117tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-77840810592764578132024-03-02T03:30:00.001-05:002024-03-02T03:30:00.137-05:00What We're Writing Week: Julia Slowly Staggers To A Stop<p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/juliaspencerfleming" target="_blank">JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING</a>: No, it's NOT done yet, dear readers. This is absolutely the <i>worst</i> part of the book for me - the ending. I swear, if I could just publish manuscripts that were 5/8 done and crowdsource the endings, I'd get books out - gosh, who knows, maybe every three years instead of four!</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">My issue with getting over the finish line is partly me, and partly the nature of the genre. For me - honestly, I don't know. I always slow down here, and we know, I'm not that fast to begins with.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8BEgXYECzQTURkPtAbuKVlg02fYNW4ushuzdFGl_QlfviMrbsMHCTpOkw5vPJtEGNq9ExdtpS4rPT0aWX4bzEgKN6jUPTlpPxgZwyB7aXBJovvGxTZbWlMQoD9C7KcAj5tZwD-uY1i9Ol_K19zx2uaquu9v7s_J2Z_eBjsqk3N3_CZ6Jxll2YQIIo6g5S/s1024/going%20slowly.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8BEgXYECzQTURkPtAbuKVlg02fYNW4ushuzdFGl_QlfviMrbsMHCTpOkw5vPJtEGNq9ExdtpS4rPT0aWX4bzEgKN6jUPTlpPxgZwyB7aXBJovvGxTZbWlMQoD9C7KcAj5tZwD-uY1i9Ol_K19zx2uaquu9v7s_J2Z_eBjsqk3N3_CZ6Jxll2YQIIo6g5S/s320/going%20slowly.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"> Psychological barriers to completion? Fear of success or failure? Not wanting to let go? I've done a lot over the past years to improve my scheduling and organization; maybe now it's time for therapy.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5fbHukfaGW4gD3Z3AkEz88dv9Mr90kJBbmHMcywMRP9lUeGq04ZTijOOOPRCLTo1694s7pr2Kizfrvilu0MRGf3i8J1406-D0m_-WyhELkXRfmwZvEDzt82klEl9dZ0Ijv0umQkglzI2dmcZxSUZNeABtaaRYgYKkdAmZgve8bqX_e1JmwNMOwG0I88WQ/s1571/Gorey%20the%20Unstrung%20Harp.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1047" data-original-width="1571" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5fbHukfaGW4gD3Z3AkEz88dv9Mr90kJBbmHMcywMRP9lUeGq04ZTijOOOPRCLTo1694s7pr2Kizfrvilu0MRGf3i8J1406-D0m_-WyhELkXRfmwZvEDzt82klEl9dZ0Ijv0umQkglzI2dmcZxSUZNeABtaaRYgYKkdAmZgve8bqX_e1JmwNMOwG0I88WQ/w640-h426/Gorey%20the%20Unstrung%20Harp.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">The nature of the genre is such that the end of any sort of crime fiction is usually 1) the high point of action and 2) has to tie all the threads together. For the first, well, I'm known for my action sequences. I like them. The readers seem to like them. But they are HARD! Making sure the reader knows <i>who</i> is doing <i>what</i>, <i>where</i> in space and <i>when</i> in a sequence of events... sometimes it feels more like planning a multi-person jaunt through an unfamiliar city via public transportation.</span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguWKF3BtZoFcnghyphenhyphen4zU92ZP52uXZ7qv-Bvou01SoeOXrDs9rz5XERgQx_Vhq7qOrqK4yE8YaZfYR4vhFrDskpfzOvOcoPje4Q2uYII_fPsiXR0CanyOWQ7hsrd7t3Rs9mHUEbh8M_pc3fOUa6nKprq8XONVy6BR46wHEZvoQ4kv9W57SG3wRdS5W9CUlrP/s500/DCc2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="481" data-original-width="500" height="308" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguWKF3BtZoFcnghyphenhyphen4zU92ZP52uXZ7qv-Bvou01SoeOXrDs9rz5XERgQx_Vhq7qOrqK4yE8YaZfYR4vhFrDskpfzOvOcoPje4Q2uYII_fPsiXR0CanyOWQ7hsrd7t3Rs9mHUEbh8M_pc3fOUa6nKprq8XONVy6BR46wHEZvoQ4kv9W57SG3wRdS5W9CUlrP/s320/DCc2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">As for tying the threads together - I can only point out I have more than one unfinished piece of very elaborate needlepoint. Oh, I just LOVE adding more and more and more threads. Figuring out what to DO with them... not so much.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">However, I am progressing. In fact, if I didn't write such #$%& long books, I'd be done now, or close to it. Alas, I don't seem to have any more control over the length of my stories than I do anything else. Truly, writing is a mysterious process. </span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwMw7trQWFIqa_0_XNMoxXi6xKkCpR-SVI6h_ebKJ7P5hagPMmWti5TR_SL9y2ev7rYNT1ZJ2BMLWDQvk9U-Nw-CMj9IQyHFpiRCmymHaGZv00Rhzh5kM-KnRkVbYtczHBrtbJ15lxIMJ7x6thrwLN2ZyOY_UjmK_WT0wtjPTbU9fGdEQmWHZ3S7jNvcwL/s4080/PXL_20240301_234115099.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4080" data-original-width="3072" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwMw7trQWFIqa_0_XNMoxXi6xKkCpR-SVI6h_ebKJ7P5hagPMmWti5TR_SL9y2ev7rYNT1ZJ2BMLWDQvk9U-Nw-CMj9IQyHFpiRCmymHaGZv00Rhzh5kM-KnRkVbYtczHBrtbJ15lxIMJ7x6thrwLN2ZyOY_UjmK_WT0wtjPTbU9fGdEQmWHZ3S7jNvcwL/w482-h640/PXL_20240301_234115099.jpg" width="482" /></a></div><p><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;"> <br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">This is the place where I would usually put some hopefully interesting question that would stimulate lots and lots of backblog comments. Instead, I have a favor to ask. Will you, dear readers, be my accountability partners? I'm highly motivated by guilt (if you had met my mother, you'd understand) so if one of you asks "Julia, have you written today" EVERY DAY until I finish, I'll be too embarrassed not to write. Don't all do it, for goodness sake, that would be a nightmare. Just one person.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia;"><span style="font-size: large;">TIA, <span style="color: red;">Julia</span></span></span></p><p></p>Juliahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09553268569509053159noreply@blogger.com85tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-43095451419505427372024-03-01T01:00:00.005-05:002024-03-01T01:00:00.158-05:00What We're Writing--Debs Practices the Jump Start<p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><a href="http://www.deborahcrombie.com" target="_blank">DEBORAH CROMBIE</a></span>: Every time I finish a chapter, or a chunk of chapters, I have to regroup. I wouldn't exactly call it "writer's block," more a "take a deep breath and regroup." I think there is always a bit of resistance to plunging into an imaginary world, maybe because it can be so scarily absorbing once you've dipped a toe in.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So here I am, plugging away on Kincaid/James #20, with all my writing prompts and boosters; the cup of tea, the journals, the pens, a couple of British home magazines for setting inspiration, but still, the dreaded BLANK PAGE stares back at me!</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrDwe-k9C2SX9I88UVhGC4vVrfvI2d3CbfWGFLrE2qIa_yLGMW5fYuM28FZJZ-2MMRZuwJ-CXO7QhDkgJu1HFNBSLIFIuv1vOusuaLjb0LMoTQ1d9N7JVQ3tV-83Z90qiHjuSBtBDtU6b9zTRSaYnBI8po0lgN5sTBXWGLtditl-hsVXbhGr_2e-rTnxs/s4000/blank%20page.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4000" data-original-width="3000" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrDwe-k9C2SX9I88UVhGC4vVrfvI2d3CbfWGFLrE2qIa_yLGMW5fYuM28FZJZ-2MMRZuwJ-CXO7QhDkgJu1HFNBSLIFIuv1vOusuaLjb0LMoTQ1d9N7JVQ3tV-83Z90qiHjuSBtBDtU6b9zTRSaYnBI8po0lgN5sTBXWGLtditl-hsVXbhGr_2e-rTnxs/w480-h640/blank%20page.jpg" width="480" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />So what to do??</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This is where the <span style="color: red;">jump start</span> comes in. I talk to myself (not out loud, although sometimes I do wander around the house muttering when I'm working out a really thorny plot point...) or maybe I should say <span style="color: red;">I talk to the book. Maybe you could call this self-brainstorming? </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Sometimes I do this with some messy journaling in the running notebook I keep for the book-in-progress, but this technique actually works better on the computer. I'm a pretty fast touch typist and this lets me toss things out as fast as I can think them. Because I'm normally such a persnickety writer, this seems to help bypass my constant mental editor--and that is hugely liberating.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It might go like this:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">--Okay, so where's Gemma? Has she checked in with Duncan and the kids? Did she ever get a sandwich? Maybe she stops at Pret again--she's going to turn into a Pret sandwich at this rate. Will she go home or does she have time to visit the crime scene again before dark?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">--Must get back to Melody? Her vp?</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">--Hawkins waiting for Max's return from mortuary, very nervous, has only done FLO in training course.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">--Duncan, home, speaks to Kit about the phone call.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">--Quill leaves Karo at the flat, he will drop her bike on the island, she can get train home later. Sets up pub meeting where?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">All of these little snippets would go on in much greater detail. Before I know it, the characters start talking, bits of dialogue are creeping in, and suddenly I have the blocking for a chapter's worth of scenes, in some sort of logical order, and I've broken the blank page curse.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Here's a non-spoiler-y bit of the scene where Gemma does get her sandwich, jumping in as she's in the car with her new detective sergeant, Davey Butler, on the way back to her new police station.</span></p><p></p><p class="Manuscript"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Gemma nodded. “We can only hope.” She glanced at the time
on the car display. “People should be getting home from work soon. When we get
back to station, get a door-to-door started in those flats overlooking the
canal. And let’s have a word with the residents in the end of that estate in
Aberdeen Place, and with the staff of the pub that overlooks the access to the
canal. What was it called?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Manuscript"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“Crocker’s Folly,” I think.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Manuscript"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">Gemma gave a snort. “That must have a story.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Manuscript"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“I think they have Indian food,” Butler said, his
expression dreamy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Manuscript"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“Oh, don’t torture me.” Looking out, Gemma saw that they
were passing the Savoy. She made a quick decision. “Let me out, will you,
before you put the car in the garage. I’m going to grab a sandwich before I come
up. Want me to pick you up something?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Manuscript"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“I had a bite in the London’s canteen. Not bad. Nigerian
food today.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Manuscript"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">“You’re a brave soul,” she said, raising an eyebrow at his
pre-postmortem fortitude. Maybe he hadn’t been joking about the crime scene
burger and chips.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Manuscript"><span style="font-family: courier; font-size: large;">A few minutes later, Gemma snagged the last cheddar and
pickle sandwich from the cold case at Pret a Manger. She ate it slowly at one
of café’s tables, then sat, nursing a cup of tea and taking a moment to marshal
her thoughts. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="Manuscript"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: courier;">When she’d jotted some notes, she tossed sandwich box and
paper cup into the bin and stepped out into the street. Patches of blue had
appeared in the early evening sky, and to the west, sunlight glinted from the
rooftops of the National Portrait Gallery. Across the street, people were
starting to gather outside the Chandos pub for afterwork drinks, a signal to
Gemma that her opportunities for that day’s actions were fast fading—and that
she’d better make certain the home fires were still burning.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="Manuscript"><span style="color: red; font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I'd love to know if my fellow writers suffer from Blank Page Syndrome, and if so, do you use jump-starting techniques to loosen up?</span></p><p class="Manuscript"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Readers, do you have any little tricks to get going on projects that can seem daunting?</span></p><span style="font-size: large;"></span><p></p>Deborah Crombiehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16988750789088153601noreply@blogger.com70tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-8491649958306680832024-02-29T00:30:00.020-05:002024-02-29T00:30:00.205-05:00Lucy is Borrowing Bits from Life #amwriting<p><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://lucyburdette.com"></a></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjVczjmGKzQwz4PuWzkB_I-Xx_XrUH37unpB5AN1l5rCvwsB2HMDJb4Q549tPN7drP2VU8Z_aPfeUUy7XdvZ4uGSZDPGLEJqjnDAAt3kB5eZ257gOQDmnAVrGtY2dqQkkMZBDmSE7dDdR0x0KC7njGmZSqH6GZiHwZei5uf6C_fMo4WPsdGhvru-h-G9-l/s4032/IMG_7368.jpeg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjVczjmGKzQwz4PuWzkB_I-Xx_XrUH37unpB5AN1l5rCvwsB2HMDJb4Q549tPN7drP2VU8Z_aPfeUUy7XdvZ4uGSZDPGLEJqjnDAAt3kB5eZ257gOQDmnAVrGtY2dqQkkMZBDmSE7dDdR0x0KC7njGmZSqH6GZiHwZei5uf6C_fMo4WPsdGhvru-h-G9-l/s320/IMG_7368.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lucy and John Mallory Square sunset</td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://lucyburdette.com"><br /> LUCY BURDETTE</a>: I am feeling my way through the 15th Key West mystery, hoping to scribble most of the story on the pages before we drive north for the summer. As always, there have been distractions. Two weeks ago, we had our kids and grandkids visiting—there wasn't much work getting done! But even when not actually writing, I’m always watching and listening, looking for interesting bits of real life to weave into my books. One night we planned to have dinner near Mallory Square at sunset, where <a href="https://www.jungleredwriters.com/2024/01/not-your-grandmothers-research.html">the inciting event of the 15th book</a>, an explosion on a boat, occurs. I took my granddaughter Thea over to see the square while we were waiting for our food. One of the acrobat/performers was there and I introduced him to Thea. Later, he chose her to help him with his act—and that became a snippet of the background in this chapter.</span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In the scene below, Hayley and her mother return to Mallory Square the day after the explosion, trying to figure out what happened. It's important because not only were they on the ill-fated boat, but they’d also hoped the cruise would bring a boost to their reputations and business. Worst of all, they’ve also just learned that someone on that boat died. They visit their friend, Lorenzo, the tarot card reader, but also talk with a pair of acrobat/jugglers who had been performing that night. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Tobin and his partner, David, wearing their trademark bright red pants, black shirts, and black shoes, were finishing up their performance. This time they’d included a little girl in pink leggings and a blue shirt with hearts—she stood in the center of the ring holding up giant knives, while the crowd around her chanted “Thea, Thea, Thea!” When he was finished, Tobin thanked her for her assistance and tucked a ten-dollar bill into her fist. Then he thanked the spectators and encouraged them to drop tips into a glass jar. He was drenched with sweat, and looked tired but wound up, too. He was much like Lorenzo in that his work took a lot of concentration and energy, though Lorenzo’s was more mental and Tobin’s physical. </i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>We waited to approach him until the last of his admirers—the smiling girl who was now holding her father’s hand—moved away. I introduced my mother and explained that we had been on the boat that had blown up the night before. </i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>The cheery smile fell from his face. “Sorry to hear that, hope you’re okay.”</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>“Pretty much, just a few post-calamity jitters.” We all laughed, a bit hysterically in my case. “I know it’s unlikely, because you were working hard, but I wondered if you might have seen anything unexpected in the water or on a nearby boat before the fire started and all those emergency vehicles arrived? Apparently, the police haven’t yet come to a conclusion about what caused the accident.” If it was one, I thought but did not say.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>Tobin absorbed my question carefully, rasping his knuckles over the stubble on his chin. This made me wonder whether he had pre-game rituals, such as eating certain food or not shaving until after a performance, like some professional athletes did.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i> “You’ve probably reviewed all of this with the authorities,” my mother added, “but might it be helpful to talk about what you noticed before the incident occurred?”</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>He nodded at her. “We were in the middle of one of our shows when all the shouting started and we the heard the boom. A precarious point,” he added, with a small grin, “because I remember bobbling a little on the ladder. I was upside down at that moment, balanced on my partner’s shoulders. Everything looks different from that perspective.”</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>“Can’t imagine,” my mother murmured, nodding with encouragement.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>“Nothing out of the ordinary sticks out that I can think of. It was a pretty good crowd for this time of year. And we’d snagged the cutest kid to help with our act. That always helps with tips.” He winked. “It looked like smooth sailing on the Gulf; I saw nothing that would have caused me to predict trouble. Oh.” He stopped for a minute and rubbed his chin again.</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><i>“It’s possible someone dropped off the edge of that boat and swam to a nearby dinghy. It didn’t register at the time, and maybe I’m making the whole thing up, but it’s possible that it happened this way.”</i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So that’s tiniest bit of real life worked into the story—it amuses me and I hope it amuses the folks I include as well. Have you noticed real life details in the fiction you read?</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uHAURVoPg2U" width="320" youtube-src-id="uHAURVoPg2U"></iframe></div><br /><p><br /></p><br />Lucy Burdette aka Roberta Isleibhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04660402177299546055noreply@blogger.com63tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-80271822150818292692024-02-28T03:30:00.006-05:002024-02-28T03:30:00.127-05:00What's Rhys writing? Too many things. She's confused<p> RHYS BOWEN: This year has not been easy for me to focus on writing. John had weeks of radiation, I had surgery on my knee, then bits frozen off by the dermatologist then a tooth extracted an in implant put in. Not fun!! But I managed to finish the next Royal Spyness book, called WE THREE QUEENS, and sent it off last week.</p><p>Today I'm celebrating the publication of the paperback of ALL THAT IS HIDDEN, and then we drive to Arizona in time for the launch of IN SUNSHINE OR IN SHADOW.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjppEuC_aT3nhljek7hDUUWt5mtCK9eQ6mOfy7OLggMfmFvuNaXkWUf8ove_b5RR6g9v-a4cekoX48AP90FHx3nBNJPa5KRrnrDapwxT0IKU-Ln03zJ1Kq4GiGX_-EDcg4VUol-i5_XoLybFtHTKjftoJA2fEKT7atgwgjTgbSuhGxFEREa1_rB0PZSzrU/s2358/IMG_4195.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2358" data-original-width="1488" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjppEuC_aT3nhljek7hDUUWt5mtCK9eQ6mOfy7OLggMfmFvuNaXkWUf8ove_b5RR6g9v-a4cekoX48AP90FHx3nBNJPa5KRrnrDapwxT0IKU-Ln03zJ1Kq4GiGX_-EDcg4VUol-i5_XoLybFtHTKjftoJA2fEKT7atgwgjTgbSuhGxFEREa1_rB0PZSzrU/s320/IMG_4195.jpeg" width="202" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>Oh, and I have already started on next year's stand-alone novel that has the delicious title of MRS. ENDICOTT'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE. Middle aged lady escapes her boring life for the south of France...</p><p>Whoever imagines the golden years as sitting in a rocking chair, crocheting, has not met me. I barely have time to breathe. But at least I don't have time to be bored!.</p><p>I thought I'd share a snippet from the new Royal Spyness book. You'll have to find out who the three queens are... I'm not telling. But poor Georgie. <span style="color: red;">Guess what's about to happen to her.....</span></p><p><br /></p><p>“So what is David going to do?” I asked. “The simplest thing would be to keep her as his mistress. Several of my ancestors have lived quite happily with this arrangement—think of Lily Langtry, Alice Keppel.”</p><p> Darcy gave a grunted chuckle. “The last King Edward had more than his share of mistresses, I agree, but he also had a respectable long suffering wife to be at his side on state occasions. You can’t picture Mrs. Simpson receiving foreign heads of state or sitting on an elephant at a durbar.”</p><p> “What a mess,” I said. “I’m sure he won’t give her up.”</p><p> “He won’t,” Darcy said. “He made that quite clear. He’d rather give up the throne than her.”</p><p>“Golly.” I tried to swallow back the word too late. My attempts at curtailing my schoolgirl language were not successful in times of crisis.</p><p>“He’s absolutely besotted with her.,” Darcy continued. “ She has him completely under her spell. When we’d got through a bottle of Scotch he kept saying, “You don’t understand, Darcy, old fellow, she’s the most marvelous woman in the world. I couldn’t live without her.”</p><p> “So what does he plan to do?”</p><p> “Allow the newspapers to spill the beans at the right moment, I gather. They’ve been remarkably obedient so far and kept the news of her from the public. But now he wants the public on his side. They adore him and he’s sure that they’ll want him to marry the woman he loves and thus put pressure on their local MPs. The law will be changed and he’ll live happily ever after.”</p><p> “That isn’t likely to happen, is it?”</p><p> “I don’t think so. If it were just civil law then maybe. But you can’t alter the doctrine of the church and he’s the official head of it.”</p><p> “His poor mother,” I said. I had become quite fond of Queen Mary, who had sent me on various assignments for her. She was a stickler for the rules and felt the royal family should be above reproach. She had done everything she could to get her son’s attention away from “that woman” as she called her, but to no avail. His late father, King George, had been remarkably prophetic. “That boy will be the downfall of the monarchy,” he had said not long before he died. I just prayed this wasn’t going to turn out to be a true prophesy. We had endured one war between king and parliament in our history and it had ended with the king losing his head. Someone should remind my cousin of this.</p><p> A thought now struck me. “Darcy, why did he particularly want you to listen to his lament? He has his own group of friends, doesn’t he, and you were never close to him.”</p><p> “Ah.” Darcy gave a deep breath. “It wasn’t exactly me he wanted. It was our house.”</p><p> “What? What do you mean?”</p><p> “He knows that the moment the news breaks Mrs. Simpson will be hounded by the press. It could break before he’s ready as the American papers are already full of it. He wants to spare her the unpleasantness that could ensue. He wants her safely far from the public eye…”</p><p> It was gradually dawning on me exactly what he was saying.</p><p> “He wants her to come and stay here?” I heard my voice rising. </p><p>AHA</p><p>And Mrs. Simpson isn't the only person who will be invading Georgie and Darcy's life. It's going to get rather complicated very quickly. But you'll have to wait until November to find out more.</p><p><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVzdb3V1LFAy66eilOZpl5goA1sThyupEkcRvm4uhReZQ11T3iEyhcRk4OUCCyOxOXfRLm0vIpHo984ZSKnbP4IVPgj16fXRbqImGL3r8c8WTFCtI6HnwygJU95gcZ8ybvLt_YTnMdQ5FaTeN4DPyPfwbtC9nsRL3vxRIq3S2k_cKF1Bq7N6tjLZ5vwfY/s1920/InSunshineOrInShadow_MetaAd_Storyv2%20(1).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVzdb3V1LFAy66eilOZpl5goA1sThyupEkcRvm4uhReZQ11T3iEyhcRk4OUCCyOxOXfRLm0vIpHo984ZSKnbP4IVPgj16fXRbqImGL3r8c8WTFCtI6HnwygJU95gcZ8ybvLt_YTnMdQ5FaTeN4DPyPfwbtC9nsRL3vxRIq3S2k_cKF1Bq7N6tjLZ5vwfY/s320/InSunshineOrInShadow_MetaAd_Storyv2%20(1).png" width="180" /></a></p><p>Oh well. Back to work. And don't forget that IN SUNSHINE OR IN SHADOW comes out on March 12, and Clare and I will be holding a launch party at the Poisoned Pen in Phoenix the Saturday before, on March 9. If you'd like a copy signed by both of us do get in touch with the store and they can ship you one.</p><p>And don't forget to check out Reds and Readers on March 12 when I'll be going live and giving away a signed copy!</p>Jungle Red Writershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16646429819267618412noreply@blogger.com73tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-85474322145269455032024-02-27T00:30:00.001-05:002024-02-27T00:30:00.254-05:00What Hank's Writing: I dare you. Join me on book tour! <div class="separator"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br />HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: If it's Tuesday, it's my day on WWW! <br /></span><br /><br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6yTHsQx33qVXL8gnRyAMMXFLuGO3KUB11q5jAuzyJ6S5psFd7r2pT04TNhc4qVOZOST4jpb636jLrSCSCBJMeNHqVt5wN848nOTtsHz2hNSNGrvk8loLlS74QgaON-vR2e06HXvXxWV4kVzSrgJxgUto08nKxInU0cxqRn0OgHFcOed-aYbRlsSsqr7o" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1088" data-original-width="1276" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh6yTHsQx33qVXL8gnRyAMMXFLuGO3KUB11q5jAuzyJ6S5psFd7r2pT04TNhc4qVOZOST4jpb636jLrSCSCBJMeNHqVt5wN848nOTtsHz2hNSNGrvk8loLlS74QgaON-vR2e06HXvXxWV4kVzSrgJxgUto08nKxInU0cxqRn0OgHFcOed-aYbRlsSsqr7o=w328-h280" width="328" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Go ahead, I dare you. Ask me where I am. Here’s the answer: I have no idea. I just burst out laughing at how hilarious the ONE WRONG WORD book tour is – – no one can describe the sensation of waking up in the morning, and seriously having not a clue what city you;re in. Or what state! If I didn’t have my printed-out itinerary, I’d be doomed.<br /><br />And one evening, in a gorgeous town in South Carolina, I even had a haunted hotel room. <br /><br />I’d had a non-stop travel day, a perfect flight from Boston to Charlotte, then a two-and-a-half hour car ride to Sumter, South Carolina. I was staying in a gorgeous inn, which the proprietor told me was built in the same year the Titanic sank. So, okay, good, lovely, if you think that’s a good omen.<br /><br /> And I know about South Carolina’s gorgeously mystical reputation. <br /><br />Anyway, I was in bed, cuddled under a comforter, with a cup of tea, recovering from the travel and preparing for the next day when my <b>TV started changing channels without me touching the remote.<br /></b><br />Can you imagine?<br /><br />It was bizarre. And no matter what I did, the channels kept changing. Then it would stop. And then start again. No matter how I fought back, it wanted to watch a car show, and then it decided to click through all the channels.<br /><br />I decided to read.<br /><br />(And told myself that if the pages started turning without me turning them, I would call someone.)<br /><br />And listen to this. When I woke up the next morning, my TV was ON.<br /><br />What do you think about THAT?<br /><br />Anyway, this is becoming quite the tour: Did you see me and ONE WRONG WORD on the Tamron Hall show? It was glorious! I was absolutely terrified, but it turned out to be fantastic. </span><div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span id="docs-internal-guid-39f32ecf-7fff-3533-54a8-d5aab99a65e4"><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 579px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="579" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/ptF7zEfZv6NXsYFRyphS_2ACPyC2UT8I8KErIlv-omMogjo00ObRKnxgKM18hFD3iYAZyvsa3TIJmnG_bQp5esmqP0qx_JJqb5PvFicWWFL_i2oLtTT0DU1QGuTxIwvuk7U65ZvWSSS2a5s3yVzlkEI" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">She’s a terrific person, and an incredibly skilled interviewer. (And her show sent a car to pick me up, and has a hair team, and makeup team, and a person who lint rolls you before you go on camera. I could get used to that.) She has a marvelous new thriller coming out, too, called WATCH WHERE THEY HIDE!<br /><br />If you missed it, here’s a link!<br /><br /><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cznX6a6GII8">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cznX6a6GII8</a></span></div><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 568px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="568" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/MMrYqevd0ZABeouA5klmjUMCO6qdteyuq-fddlPAm0D2M02zWPK3V-Uwk3Dmyjv6iPh2_TmTcuBxKUv-MnTaYlDXDBEWp8X7XgTRad15K0GmwuzwFacHgIqPoHHgf4e39GffzggFG0uJ2xBtDoySylQ" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">AND I I I </span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-size: large;">I was also featured on the amazing Carol Fitzgerald’s show! You know her as The Bookreporter, and this is quite an honor! Watch our interview here.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="color: #242424; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;"> </span><a data-auth="NotApplicable" data-linkindex="1" href="https://youtu.be/WgMH-QE2Jb0" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="border: 0px; color: blue; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-position: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">https://youtu.be/WgMH-QE2Jb0</a></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; text-align: left;"><br /></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">And we are doing bookfaces wherever I go. So incredibly funny! (Do you recognize mega-bestselling authors William Martin and Lori Roy? And genius journalist Callie Crossley of PBS?)</span></div><div><br /></div><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 621px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="621" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/eqOvsQ-rW0pjYp3DvGnDD5fPCReMMNb_LIA-bIJnAJO4XhRRiu-yf6-a-_QnNmvCJIHdHcwOMoiQMrT7ZcuvzHJnlGaaTvi56Q5XlQBWbpVcivrDmpGplPAGI14isk3qsFaIfDeonrahxOZFEZ71idA" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #242424; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div><br /></div></span></div></div><div><br /></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-ab6fc1f9-7fff-8aca-0223-766c4c7802e4"><span style="color: #242424; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 532px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="532" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/S5-LYqLlZxh6H-qS7ZYx4h8KVkBMbwP7XUxAfhpg6EBqjbfuu2vFbU7fzd7FC1BCDsQSD8fCdzFpmxlAZUYbmjBBJWiCSmjtfvJG75VUuE_iEV55UWLZvCRamsu5RoMQcWJLQM1P_MTFDZTzsXCs2TU" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span></span></span></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-dad980fd-7fff-f84b-6989-987380ae747b"><span style="background-color: white; color: #242424; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 621px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="621" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/X65HQO030RE8g1Q67IQGztDFLxzJv_-6fYQNNPiDz6xVjjjGHJ0XRhYOaMvCScQlbOIAPowAs6WTHEwIfDTryJhkMqyENi6KPKeXzoxaOWc7DsDn2r_vriOfNfDRKqtFZZGGF27aNalMVK27Ih2nAv4" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span></span></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">AND! (I know, lots of great stuff) look at this amazing article in The Boston Globe! (Since I’m on the road, thoughtful Hallie sent this photo!)</span><br /><br /><span id="docs-internal-guid-b6309e8d-7fff-5cff-0b3f-1b24d38a54f7"><span style="color: #242424; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 11.5pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 832px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="832" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/kb015n5cInJBmz7pHHaKU7aPu5MTujEjdkwzlq5ebNKTfvtlq63_kJnrsMdVaXjwjmFSqGIDwtpdrkve3xwP6FCHsBiqytLCnVJNQGv1WHIQZEWQn3cdXzHL2XmmoSKNPyWqFkGi2tNJy36ZP5e_PeU" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span></span></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: large;">On the other hand, book tour is grueling, with a plane flight (or two) almost every day, and intermittent food, and unpredictable hotels (ALWAYS freezing) , and living out of a carryon suitcase. I was incredibly grateful that my current hotel has a laundry room.<br /><br />( And I hope your TV remote does not have a mind of its own.)<br /><br />But then, the good news. WHOA. Did you see this in BookBub? SO honored! </span></div><div><br /></div><div><span id="docs-internal-guid-1537ebb6-7fff-07d5-a8d9-a9d6044c4379"><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="border: none; display: inline-block; height: 520px; overflow: hidden; width: 624px;"><img height="520" src="https://lh7-us.googleusercontent.com/YDp-FXXqwuw63QwXl5DvEhTN4dPmGGVGiDnha6qsIeDRSp9p44eoDCsqep9fgTTqf74YQpqBwgBRXTHmcP2TvU38KRZmkaXYv6xzXtiTRf33EcrazOlKOekbhkNk8ToE2ac3AqHglMpWySj3xNTfPr0" style="margin-left: 0px; margin-top: 0px;" width="624" /></span></span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"> You can read the whole wonderful thing here!</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> <a href="https://www.bookbub.com/blog/book-bestsellers-winter-2024">https://www.bookbub.com/blog/book-bestsellers-winter-2024</a><br /><br />And in the end, what’s top of mind–I am supposed to be editing the next book! Thank goodness for plane rides.<br /><br /><b>I know we’ve talked about ghosts before, so let me ask you this: what’s your favorite part of being in a hotel?</b><br /><br />(And those who have joined us at Reds and Readers–there’s an offer for you there today!Check for it after 10 AM ET!)</span><br /><br /><br /><br /></div></div>Hank Phillippi Ryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07630366214207785339noreply@blogger.com72tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-41936121968129758232024-02-26T03:00:00.006-05:002024-02-26T09:01:41.221-05:00Hallie's What We're Writing - the road not (yet) taken...<p><br /></p>
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;"><a href="http://hallieephron.com">HALLIE EPHRON:</a></span> I get to kick off WHAT WE'RE WRITING week, but first a quick detour to Jenn's last Friday FUNNIES - I laughed out loud at that dog bouncing up and down over the fence to check Jenn and her pooch. <br /><br />It reminded me of this photo which I took of a sunflower that seems to be plotting its escape from behind a fence in my far more sedate neighborhood. It doesn't bark.
<br /></span>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZOlIDExojZ51OwapDmaRr7ktqrmGjYn2-bwLokAID8bQyHCN2gtHNsIXPzzUJiEFridhmWR14zW3zEDI6uZAmiRUj0QXket5ZCCxf45-Y6i1G9iabSMhcB2DHEeFlffGjHDukjPp0MPG9uVS8rT9Jiz1PQyXoVjStA6VXRoQAy9S5TQY0ks1gwt041A0/s2016/SunFlowerPeeking.jpeg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="2016" data-original-width="1512" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZOlIDExojZ51OwapDmaRr7ktqrmGjYn2-bwLokAID8bQyHCN2gtHNsIXPzzUJiEFridhmWR14zW3zEDI6uZAmiRUj0QXket5ZCCxf45-Y6i1G9iabSMhcB2DHEeFlffGjHDukjPp0MPG9uVS8rT9Jiz1PQyXoVjStA6VXRoQAy9S5TQY0ks1gwt041A0/w300-h400/SunFlowerPeeking.jpeg" width="300" /></a></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
But I digress...
<br /><br />
I'm still very much in rummaging-around mode, looking at my various finished and unfinished bits and pieces. This one stopped me in my tracks. It was in a file I created in 2020 and saved as SOMETHINGNEW. <br /><br />Well, right now I could definitely use something new so I opened it… and here’s what I found – one paragraph and a very short sentence…<br /><br /></span></span><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">
</span><span style="font-family: courier;">Miriam Abramowitz was turning into a shriveled, overripe vegetable. Her toenails were untended, only the tips still painted. Coming at you, her hair was a corona of silvery white. Walking away it was brown-almost black. Her living room couch
had a permanent sag in it from where she’d lodged herself for the last three months.
</span></span><span style="font-family: courier;"><br /><br /><span style="font-size: large;">
The doorbell rang.
</span></span><br /></div><div style="margin-left: 40px;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><br />
I have no idea what I was thinking and where this was going with this, but it certainly reads like something that was written during covid lockdown. <br /><br />But looking at it now I can imagine what Miriam might find when she opens the door and there, sitting on her front steps, is…
<br /><br />
- A large red cat, blinking up at her
<br />- A box, with her name and the word FRAGILE on it in purple crayon
<br />- A one-way airline ticket to Las Vegas
<br />- A pile of candy conversation hearts, all with the same message on them: AS IF
<br />- An invitation to a masked ball
<br />- A chocolate cupcake and the note, "One side will make you younger."
<br />- A photograph of a woman who looks like Miriam, riding a camel, wearing a balaclava, and holding an Uzi
<br />- A thumb drive loaded with photographs of Miriam sleeping
<br />- A red clown nose
<br /><br />
So, two questions…
<br /><br />
<span style="color: red;">Which of these would be most likely to entice you to keep reading (and please tell us why)?
<br />And of course, ideas?!? What else might she find on her doorstep?
</span></span><br /></span><br />
Hallie Ephronhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04759439029582054503noreply@blogger.com82tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-47973882360234877852024-02-25T02:30:00.035-05:002024-02-25T02:30:00.224-05:00National Chili Day by Jenn McKinlay<p><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2qDFlHazcPet_U1AGlu_hE44Ll9mw2ptjdePofyE7oAZyoTGWtA2v3NBXzBqeGvOUXpEWeh2uYS75oyYay00wI1BF1HIsmgzyymeXRttqukX_NKjVJasjL1pyRhUkwtkhKKkMd3kVFCYG6TqbLdt-H2I89Wrx6HXIhKHedjNUmANGz9AV7_q4A9r8QF0f/s829/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-18%20at%203.19.15%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="409" data-original-width="829" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2qDFlHazcPet_U1AGlu_hE44Ll9mw2ptjdePofyE7oAZyoTGWtA2v3NBXzBqeGvOUXpEWeh2uYS75oyYay00wI1BF1HIsmgzyymeXRttqukX_NKjVJasjL1pyRhUkwtkhKKkMd3kVFCYG6TqbLdt-H2I89Wrx6HXIhKHedjNUmANGz9AV7_q4A9r8QF0f/w640-h317/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-18%20at%203.19.15%20PM.png" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.jennmckinlay.com" target="_blank">Jenn McKinlay</a>: Y'all, National Chili Day was on Thursday, and I missed it! Darn it. Not gonna lie, I have been having a heck of time keeping track of the days lately. <span style="color: red;">How is it the end of February?!</span> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Ah, well, is there ever a bad day to have chili? No, there is not. </span><span style="font-family: arial;">To celebrate, belatedly, I'm sharing some chili trivia:</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">1700's: It is believed that immigrants from the Canary Islands introduced chili to the residents of San Antonio after settling in the region.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">1828: The earliest written description of chili was by Houston based author J.C. Clopper.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">1880's: Chili queens worked food stands that served chili, making it even more popular in San Antonio.</span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmn9L7QFeZd8sJdhwwkMfzwSssyQg3ZKDLafURYVd6oHy0a2FsFY6wymxyHOr9ypz2OR8JCc3RHTgcXIBMeC0JIZIlo6Xz1598b-I-NaahnD66fyQSNvUs-rlf2JXoEWQvIQ5GPoqTmyeQtuCq5lWjcEA7dM-y98vtFtSHHuM0Exk63aOJXvm8TwIs7Eia/s773/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-18%20at%203.50.38%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="611" data-original-width="773" height="506" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmn9L7QFeZd8sJdhwwkMfzwSssyQg3ZKDLafURYVd6oHy0a2FsFY6wymxyHOr9ypz2OR8JCc3RHTgcXIBMeC0JIZIlo6Xz1598b-I-NaahnD66fyQSNvUs-rlf2JXoEWQvIQ5GPoqTmyeQtuCq5lWjcEA7dM-y98vtFtSHHuM0Exk63aOJXvm8TwIs7Eia/w640-h506/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-18%20at%203.50.38%20PM.png" width="640" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">1893: The popularity of chili exploded when Texans set up a chili stand at the Chicago Exposition.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">1952: The first world championship chili contest was held at the State Fair of Texas (naturally). The author of the definitive chili book <span style="color: red;">WITH OR WITHOUT BEANS</span>, Joe E. Cooper, was the chairman of the event.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">1977: Chili is declared the official dish of Texas by the state legislature.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Oh</span><span style="font-family: arial;">, and I dug into the archives and found <a href="https://www.jungleredwriters.com/2017/02/hallies-sunday-chili-sundae-recipe.html" target="_blank">Hallie's Chili Recipe</a> </span><span style="font-family: arial;">a</span><span style="font-family: arial;">nd </span><a href="https://www.jungleredwriters.com/2021/10/chili-season.html" style="font-family: arial;" target="_blank">Deb's Chili Recipe</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> as well.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><div><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">And finally, we must address the controversy surrounding chili. Yes, I know it can get heated but let's be civil about it, shall we? It's a safe space here and no matter how you feel, there'll be no judgment. (This one is for you, Joe E. Cooper)!</span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="color: red; font-family: arial; font-size: large;"><b>All right, Reds and Readers, here goes -- When you make chili, do you add beans or no? </b></span></div><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: large;">I suspect, our Lucy, with her <a href="https://www.jungleredwriters.com/2023/10/lucy-is-counting-beans.html" target="_blank">Secret Bean Society</a> membership (okay, I made that up but still her bean post is hilarious) is a vote for beans, but I'll wait to see her answer. </span></p><p><br /></p>Jenn McKinlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13589365995413467367noreply@blogger.com86tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-52851876682858177062024-02-24T02:30:00.069-05:002024-02-24T02:30:00.137-05:00Darn it, I wish I'd written that!<p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.jennmckinlay.com" target="_blank">JENN MCKINLAY</a>: <span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;">It happened again. I discovered a book that has so captured my imagination, I wish I’d written it. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJOPaHXCTUdYCwnTH1G5TAyHme8up_MO9VEnrKPSE0Uz3Qw7lMxVQDL_8O6AmQ4A4bIuYhlDIHFOh1Add7b7YTQCrE36Z-c9ytz7_tC8rmGw2YC7uPLq_DqqtkWCq7E4mtCEvQDVvhJ92tv0QWKPwn6iVuMZxUBJQQa2CrU2z8133idUvqDxdJq_0js5hL/s402/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%202.29.47%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="402" data-original-width="351" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJOPaHXCTUdYCwnTH1G5TAyHme8up_MO9VEnrKPSE0Uz3Qw7lMxVQDL_8O6AmQ4A4bIuYhlDIHFOh1Add7b7YTQCrE36Z-c9ytz7_tC8rmGw2YC7uPLq_DqqtkWCq7E4mtCEvQDVvhJ92tv0QWKPwn6iVuMZxUBJQQa2CrU2z8133idUvqDxdJq_0js5hL/w349-h400/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%202.29.47%20PM.png" width="349" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><span id="docs-internal-guid-cbdaa616-7fff-d720-a261-94fa40b9172f"><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="color: red;">Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries</span> by Heather Fawcett is just perfection – in my opinion. A brilliant yet socially inept heroine, a charming and mysterious hero, and an adventure seeking and cataloging “The Folk” (faeries) of a remote Norwegian village for the Dryadology department in which they both work at the University of Cambridge in 1909. If Lessons in Chemistry and Grimm’s Fairy Tales (the originals not the watered down versions) had a book baby this would be it. It truly is the perfect winter tale. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><br /></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">So, that’s my latest - <span style="color: red;">Darn it, I wish I’d written that!</span> - book. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="color: red; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">How about you, Reds? What books have you read recently that are so good you wished you’d written them?</span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><div><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV04piSs-dJDeGKZDibRyc69NZOzRsaOZ_n5f2W9ZSCkktNATAABSum2WZyxKeMpkWj-Yu5uWJwK3ErmI36EXzGAia11WoCdRvT54xL6O5oqQbieB_LaV-j8wJ3AuXLk-Xfp6NzPVnrUTz43eLYJR-3QMqclWzsYdES6bbfKKiE9LoupS76h8hEEDB1KkK/s355/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%202.37.00%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="345" data-original-width="355" height="389" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV04piSs-dJDeGKZDibRyc69NZOzRsaOZ_n5f2W9ZSCkktNATAABSum2WZyxKeMpkWj-Yu5uWJwK3ErmI36EXzGAia11WoCdRvT54xL6O5oqQbieB_LaV-j8wJ3AuXLk-Xfp6NzPVnrUTz43eLYJR-3QMqclWzsYdES6bbfKKiE9LoupS76h8hEEDB1KkK/w400-h389/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%202.37.00%20PM.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /></span></div></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.hankphillippiryan.com" target="_blank">HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN</a>: <span style="color: red;">Wrong Place, Wrong Time</span>, by Gillian McAllister. It’s a terrific novel of suspense, where in chapter 1, a woman sees her son murder someone. She’s baffled and astonished and horrified, and cannot figure out why this would happen! The next morning, she wakes up. And it’s the day before the murder. And the next time she wakes up, it’s the day before that. But! She remembers everything that happened. It’s hard to explain, and incredibly wonderful to read, and I cannot imagine how she wrote it. Highly highly recommend it.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"> It’s not only a terrific mystery, but absolutely poignant, and touching, about how our lives go by so quickly and we don’t notice the sweet and important little things, and we even forget our own happiness. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-MFJjx3VMpk23DaIGqRCg93X5MzwWX5pA6qqHXn_rffoS0wVSCGzjA72niAkKAFpHsbKXAs2e5flQkU0QRPIyvdkkCUmzccMw0I70BLmXgLgpd59meGDMOmAKr8ft29Q1rMLFa1y5JaGimKI2u0STLD-dKXYn0KN1D8jxdx5467itMA2raxTb5kcjBZb1/s379/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%202.38.09%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="359" data-original-width="379" height="379" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-MFJjx3VMpk23DaIGqRCg93X5MzwWX5pA6qqHXn_rffoS0wVSCGzjA72niAkKAFpHsbKXAs2e5flQkU0QRPIyvdkkCUmzccMw0I70BLmXgLgpd59meGDMOmAKr8ft29Q1rMLFa1y5JaGimKI2u0STLD-dKXYn0KN1D8jxdx5467itMA2raxTb5kcjBZb1/w400-h379/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%202.38.09%20PM.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.hallieephron.com" target="_blank">HALLIE EPHRON</a>: Whenever I read a book by Peter Abrahams (aka Spencer Quinn) I am transported and delighted, whether it’s one of his books for children (“<span style="color: red;">Down the Rabbit Hole</span>”…) or one of his Chet and Bernie books (“<span style="color: red;">Doggone It</span>”...), I am in awe. I’ve been a fan ever since I was gobsmacked by his mystery novel “<span style="color: red;">Oblivion</span>” more than a decade ago (opens with the narrator testifying in court while losing consciousness and his memory to a brain tumor–a tour de force) when I was reviewing crime fiction for the Boston Globe. So add his latest, “<span style="color: red;">Mrs. Plansky’s Revenge</span>,” to my list of Peter’s books that I wish I could have written. </span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaD3wsz88pv_qakfGb1cNy9eUNIvE0hUeuQBGIPN759ahs1UGNziKB76_kPcJ8xBjFdFF1l7tGautwYjrBHJjHKdQfSeSNiG9sRbYKIbNkzp3jW17XWmkUzcFUO2tgOA5sMEFPJtM6sDEt4ZDGu4qnhYJqJA2He11WXoqtSYsg7exnynDJBoGwlPoAsprm/s373/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%202.39.18%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="373" height="374" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiaD3wsz88pv_qakfGb1cNy9eUNIvE0hUeuQBGIPN759ahs1UGNziKB76_kPcJ8xBjFdFF1l7tGautwYjrBHJjHKdQfSeSNiG9sRbYKIbNkzp3jW17XWmkUzcFUO2tgOA5sMEFPJtM6sDEt4ZDGu4qnhYJqJA2He11WXoqtSYsg7exnynDJBoGwlPoAsprm/w400-h374/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%202.39.18%20PM.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.lucyburdette.com" target="_blank">LUCY BURDETTE</a>: My list is long (and I’m not including my blogmates)! Any of the <span style="color: red;">Ann Cleeves</span> Shetland or Vera books (love the characters and the setting,) Barbara O’Neal’s <span style="color: red;">The Art of Inheriting Secrets</span>, Ann Mah’s <span style="color: red;">The Lost Vintage</span>, Juliet Blackwell’s <span style="color: red;">The Paris Key</span>.</span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">This is making me think I’d better get back to work ASAP!</span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.rhysbowen.com" target="_blank">RHYS BOWEN</a>: The thing I most wish I had written was not a book but a TV series. <span style="color: red;">The Bletchley Circle</span>. When I saw that the first thing I said was “This is brilliant. Why didn’t I think of it?” But among recent books I wish I had written <span style="color: red;">LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY</span>. I loved that it was quirky, funny and didn’t fit any genre. Different. I really want to write a book that is different from anything ever written. That’s not easy. Oh, and I was impressed with Magpie Murders. I thought the story within the story was so clever, and the TV version was fantastic.</span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjETiM4Vd2FPXQ13peOEUt5nyMhKX5rgmJMjwhboyUeNcQvopo04iaUCXR-G6Hm4M9zMh9StcF-WKrFaI53qqhb2KLfRocjwQBq-lZpCx3uttmXej7a0ugZWdQ_M8ePd4jwIk3_Od5Mwo5omvYMQxNaNxcZS40PRlFuA1PRF5nAF3PzMcHtw0p-YlQZIb2G/s364/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%202.40.17%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="348" data-original-width="364" height="383" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjETiM4Vd2FPXQ13peOEUt5nyMhKX5rgmJMjwhboyUeNcQvopo04iaUCXR-G6Hm4M9zMh9StcF-WKrFaI53qqhb2KLfRocjwQBq-lZpCx3uttmXej7a0ugZWdQ_M8ePd4jwIk3_Od5Mwo5omvYMQxNaNxcZS40PRlFuA1PRF5nAF3PzMcHtw0p-YlQZIb2G/w400-h383/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%202.40.17%20PM.png" width="400" /></a></span></div><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;">JENN: Oh, I loved, loved, loved, Lessons in Chemistry. And I agree, it defied categorization. Such an achievement. </span></span></p><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="http://www.deborahcrombie.com" target="_blank">DEBORAH CROMBIE</a>: I hadn’t read anything by David Nicholls before we watched the Netflix series based on his novel <span style="color: red;">ONE DAY</span>. The series is astoundingly good–I can’t say much more than that because, spoilers, of which even the critics from a lot of major media have been guilty. (Maybe they assumed everyone had read the book? Or seen the Anne Hathaway/Jim Sturgess adaptation?) As soon as the last episode finished I had to dive into the book to see if it was as good, and there is my “Oh my gosh, I wish I’d written this,” moment. Such clever construction–the two characters meet on the day of their university graduation, July 15th, and the novel is a snapshot of that one day in their lives for the next twenty years. It’s funny, sexy, heartbreaking, human, and ultimately life-affirming. Just genius. Big sigh of envy and admiration from me!</span></span></span><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUiH8Ar-CQGEZ28CHVwrWhAamjr-U6kpbMUVFPJuzSgHNL64bCwCCKZzd4UAxKUL1D2ZjdwckeFo63zfgVVKuY7b9f8rcKmicv8doptNjQjNpXJTYB6zG-HNSKeMDNqYmRcIcWoiAuIfX3rLFnnMb6zE_IVL0nxlS92EC5czpBGfOrMC5Z7feC1IBHMSz5/s364/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%202.41.34%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="364" data-original-width="359" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUiH8Ar-CQGEZ28CHVwrWhAamjr-U6kpbMUVFPJuzSgHNL64bCwCCKZzd4UAxKUL1D2ZjdwckeFo63zfgVVKuY7b9f8rcKmicv8doptNjQjNpXJTYB6zG-HNSKeMDNqYmRcIcWoiAuIfX3rLFnnMb6zE_IVL0nxlS92EC5czpBGfOrMC5Z7feC1IBHMSz5/w395-h400/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%202.41.34%20PM.png" width="395" /></a></div><br /></span><div><span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="font-size: large; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><p dir="ltr" id="yiv7105303195gmail-docs-internal-guid-9f20601f-7fff-6ae1-a66c-16b0824611ab" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; outline: none; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; outline: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><a href="http://www.juliaspencerfleming.com" target="_blank">JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING</a>: Oh, this is hard. I often get the severe case of the green-eyed monster over one aspect of a book or another. I remember reading </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; outline: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">BLOOD IS THE SKY</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; outline: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> the year after I met its author, Steve Hamilton, and wishing SO HARD I could write with his spare precision. Carol Goodman’s debut, </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; outline: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">THE LAKE OF DEAD LANGUAGES</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; outline: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, is as perfect a blend of genre and literary as I’ve ever read, and damn it, I wish I could write like that! Who doesn’t wish they had written </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; outline: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">GONE GIRL</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; outline: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">, which not only won every award and was a major bestseller, but achieved the rare feat of jump-starting an entire new type of novel in the crime fiction realm.</span></p><p dir="ltr" id="yiv7105303195gmail-docs-internal-guid-9f20601f-7fff-6ae1-a66c-16b0824611ab" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; outline: none; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; outline: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></p><p dir="ltr" id="yiv7105303195gmail-docs-internal-guid-9f20601f-7fff-6ae1-a66c-16b0824611ab" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; outline: none; white-space-collapse: collapse;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_GFquFGbQRKnFR2dAeOM1-YT-XwJ04Xo9p8UKcnpY0V4vbmSOZGodXG-Ws32O9LFH3yvZFsqoUzTSkMDyS-KLdbg3AhzKZtx_gIhVDvbm-uO6CTlIWw3Xnm-tW4CVeea1vVWYk5GDe4_CuWPvP7pF98393k8jr9o1pakXFApXiDyWeiJnz3V7sbgGLtCC/s383/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%202.43.08%20PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="352" data-original-width="383" height="368" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_GFquFGbQRKnFR2dAeOM1-YT-XwJ04Xo9p8UKcnpY0V4vbmSOZGodXG-Ws32O9LFH3yvZFsqoUzTSkMDyS-KLdbg3AhzKZtx_gIhVDvbm-uO6CTlIWw3Xnm-tW4CVeea1vVWYk5GDe4_CuWPvP7pF98393k8jr9o1pakXFApXiDyWeiJnz3V7sbgGLtCC/w400-h368/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%202.43.08%20PM.png" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p dir="ltr" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt; outline: none; white-space-collapse: collapse;"><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; outline: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">If I could pick just one, though, it would be </span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: red; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; outline: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">THE GLASS HOTEL</span><span face="Arial, sans-serif" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; outline: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"> by Emily St. John Mandel. A little less known than her also-amazing STATION ELEVEN, The Glass Hotel is beautiful and page turning and astonishing and heartbreaking and original and compelling - ugh! So good.</span></p></span></span><div><span><span style="font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;"><br /></span></span></span></div><div><span><span style="color: red; font-family: helvetica; font-size: large;"><span style="font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; vertical-align: baseline; white-space-collapse: preserve;">So, how about you, Readers? Is there a book you wished you'd written or a book you wish you could read again for the very first time?</span></span></span></div></div></div>Jenn McKinlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13589365995413467367noreply@blogger.com87tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1001156153899984046.post-13615506309002249922024-02-23T02:30:00.038-05:002024-02-23T02:30:00.184-05:00FRIDAY FUNNIES<p> <span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.jennmckinlay.com" target="_blank">JENN McKINLAY</a>: Hi, it's me with the Friday funnies again. I've curated my latest belly laughs from social media and life because dang it 2024 has been off to a rocky start for some of us, so let's take a beat and have a laugh.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">So, this video is mine. I posted it to my Instagram story this week and it was wildly popular so I'll share with you with the back story: </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I walk my dogs every day on different paths through the neighborhood to keep it interesting--for everyone involved. Well, on this one particular street, this pooch feels compelled to greet us when we walk by. These block fences are six feet tall and no, there is no trampoline. </span></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyOmI-yX8y-T5fNmFJI8fXnhZYGyc-Q1sToRX4fO12vtP5XD9O4YBgch77n3XxOi3lAOHenkL_HT9AaqaRfwQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;">The first time it scared the snot out of me, but now I greet him/her (IDK) by singing Adele's lyrics, "Hello...it's me." I laugh every time this dog pops up even though I expect it now. </span><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Here is a new discovery for me. This Instagrammer is hiiiiilarious. She anthropomorphs everything from fonts to human inventions and she is sooooo clever. I have rewatched some of these short videos several times just to appreciate all the nuances. Seriously, if you're on Insta, check out Elle Cordova. Here's a link to one of my faves since I can't just post it as I'm respecting copyright: <a href="https://www.instagram.com/reel/C3kqDUmrGRJ/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==" target="_blank">Inventions Hanging Out</a></span></div><div><br /></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">And then, of course, there are the good old reliable memes. Here are a few of my recent punny faves!</span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRKwjOOpkI8oqULB4y51W3Je5wUCtM1idlVCYsCeCeT8XvvyVbnYc8lojUePQ6C5ldezy6L7w_s5684M-kKBscDOMA1-wXSUiLPLr4njJ-tty81KsL13_O_Y2kOPUKloqtdv6IBW3ngbDh67DyOqDFXN_G7xl2_OI3Pwx-rYzBSu9BOcASfaJPF3aMm33/s537/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%2012.38.03%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="458" data-original-width="537" height="546" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfRKwjOOpkI8oqULB4y51W3Je5wUCtM1idlVCYsCeCeT8XvvyVbnYc8lojUePQ6C5ldezy6L7w_s5684M-kKBscDOMA1-wXSUiLPLr4njJ-tty81KsL13_O_Y2kOPUKloqtdv6IBW3ngbDh67DyOqDFXN_G7xl2_OI3Pwx-rYzBSu9BOcASfaJPF3aMm33/w640-h546/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%2012.38.03%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAyH8EtZaRYwkhe5lcJNzUWBX2ItKvVXS-gSZHGq15UwWo7gU2IBvg9HT6-aFDGZSuJvi43xHmwY8yAXMVQ54pOCzodVakH-gBAHudFVOE0Y8lpqGlko5ToCDB0xY8yoBis_RDI4ALxWp4rpTUxg_QN6KNr0pvXjDWMlTpsfixa1tl0vzYcnzLptFAjBhQ/s524/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%2012.37.40%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="440" data-original-width="524" height="538" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAyH8EtZaRYwkhe5lcJNzUWBX2ItKvVXS-gSZHGq15UwWo7gU2IBvg9HT6-aFDGZSuJvi43xHmwY8yAXMVQ54pOCzodVakH-gBAHudFVOE0Y8lpqGlko5ToCDB0xY8yoBis_RDI4ALxWp4rpTUxg_QN6KNr0pvXjDWMlTpsfixa1tl0vzYcnzLptFAjBhQ/w640-h538/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%2012.37.40%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkijKYDp-1PSLIvYGTW78jqVhHQV9mU52aQ354nsoXbQTE-8umvWIw-URyWxLrTPehFVCBfMsvZLMSyITvDGV8YPGsVzdu_Qwt9J6VqO6vKDTwgYB_r_Uk5eFqtsRdSqivWDs_2ZFM7wrtZGanftOEnWaJitfIrAtdfjOLqp4QXPYVP55zsL_SqWMyK9LY/s632/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%2012.34.20%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="632" data-original-width="604" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkijKYDp-1PSLIvYGTW78jqVhHQV9mU52aQ354nsoXbQTE-8umvWIw-URyWxLrTPehFVCBfMsvZLMSyITvDGV8YPGsVzdu_Qwt9J6VqO6vKDTwgYB_r_Uk5eFqtsRdSqivWDs_2ZFM7wrtZGanftOEnWaJitfIrAtdfjOLqp4QXPYVP55zsL_SqWMyK9LY/w613-h640/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%2012.34.20%20PM.png" width="613" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqRBg9N5QZx1MNXiiAHq4ExQTyhrt0N0S5C2BMzCNFf4rn-u4XKpQ-u5LOTVRDkiHfrN9E4Wix_gD9x4RimKeHiWUy4ZjFhqrqxLvsdvyCdJH22lDQ8yVI5VZgJYRQZM5xUZ1Xmbk26Br263rSOIyiAy3q0f4NAInP3Fba7OFsujXFU3F12iFaZRNJt5Pe/s592/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%2012.34.43%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="429" data-original-width="592" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqRBg9N5QZx1MNXiiAHq4ExQTyhrt0N0S5C2BMzCNFf4rn-u4XKpQ-u5LOTVRDkiHfrN9E4Wix_gD9x4RimKeHiWUy4ZjFhqrqxLvsdvyCdJH22lDQ8yVI5VZgJYRQZM5xUZ1Xmbk26Br263rSOIyiAy3q0f4NAInP3Fba7OFsujXFU3F12iFaZRNJt5Pe/w640-h464/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%2012.34.43%20PM.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg14iS0amhGr1gQImEBliyGeamYs0D-PNo2Yw4pDAQL8YYxzShs9n7N_L1eq5aeNbitBvDCvB0Euj5DHLKhjgmvM8AP3DQqVjniXCusu07J18P1hm986lOOSqfQknjzwzslEocf1M4qqmKEGuatFxI-yYSH9rYALzx_YgiBKMZ02yxKS2fqEA765VKkp8eR/s547/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%2012.37.24%20PM.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="547" data-original-width="509" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg14iS0amhGr1gQImEBliyGeamYs0D-PNo2Yw4pDAQL8YYxzShs9n7N_L1eq5aeNbitBvDCvB0Euj5DHLKhjgmvM8AP3DQqVjniXCusu07J18P1hm986lOOSqfQknjzwzslEocf1M4qqmKEGuatFxI-yYSH9rYALzx_YgiBKMZ02yxKS2fqEA765VKkp8eR/w596-h640/Screen%20Shot%202024-02-21%20at%2012.37.24%20PM.png" width="596" /></a></div><br /></div><div><span style="color: red; font-size: large;">Happy Friday (we made it!), everyone. What are some things you've seen lately that made you laugh? Drop a link in the comments to share!</span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></p></div> Jenn McKinlayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13589365995413467367noreply@blogger.com74