The Importance of Rituals #MEBrowning

LUCY BURDETTE: You might remember Micki Browning when she visited us in May to talk about her award-winning book, Shadow Ridge. I invited her back on the occasion of her new book, Mercy Creek. I love the topic of her blog today, writing rituals, though I admit it stumps me. Read on....

MICKI BROWNING: Authors are frequently asked about their writing rituals, and I’ve never owned up to any. I mean, sure, most mornings I find my way to my desk, open the document du jour and see what new damage I can inflict upon it—or in the case of revision, how I can patch it up and send it on its way. But I don’t write every day, I don’t have a mandatory word count, I don’t outline. Honestly, looking at this, I’m not sure how I’ve managed to publish anything at all.

I sip my tea and fret that I’m undisciplined. That, of course, makes me question my time management skills and I take a quick peek at my calendar, with its hourly segments and prioritizing processes that incorporate Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits. The well-worn leather binder and my lack of focus serve as evidence that a Franklin Planner does not magically make one a highly effective person. That makes me wonder if I need to buy a timer in the shape of a tomato, and dole my time out in twenty-five-minute increments. After all, the five-minute break that follows each sprint would be perfectly timed to brew a fresh cup of tea. 

To forestall the verdict that my lack of rituals places me beyond redemption as a writer, I must confess my good intentions. I am a member of Ramona’s Sprint Club, a Facebook group started by author Ramona DeFelice Long—a name dear to many in the writing community. She was a talented writer, accomplished editor, and mentor to many. The reason it’s a sprint club is because she admitted to “…an attention span of one hour at a time.” It was a length of time that she turned into marvelous prose. Upon Ramona’s passing in October 2020, fellow author Wende Dikec, who writes as Abigail Drake, took up the mantle of wrangling and inspiring the group.

One “Mug Shot Monday,” Wende posted a photo of her collection of Wonder Woman mugs as a quiet reminder that inspiration is all around us if we remain open to it. I glanced at the mug on my desk. For a woman with no writing ritual, I am a creature of habit when it comes to my morning tea and the mug that contains it.

The mug was made in France, and I purchased it from Williams Sonoma. The hand-thrown pottery was an extravagance for a twenty-something, and yet if I calculate the price per use, it comes out to a fraction of a penny per day. It matches nothing else in my cabinet. Which makes it peculiar. Kind of like a former cop whose favorite brew derives from leaves rather than beans. I’m okay with it.

While my choice of tea changes by the day, I’ve been using the same mug for over thirty years. It is the color of an autumn forest and fits my hand just so. I can—and do—sometimes use other mugs (especially on the occasions I do switch up my game to coffee), but every morning, this mug—filled with tea—accompanies me to my office.  

The tasks that accompany a book launch are myriad and stretch over several months. Mercy Creek, the second Jo Wyatt Mystery launched October 12th. It’s my fourth book and follows on the heels of Shadow Ridge. But on that Monday in July when I checked in with Ramona’s Sprint Group, I sipped my tea, thought about my work in progress, and realized I had a writing ritual after all.

Are there any rituals you draw upon to spark your creativity or to help focus your attention on writing or other creative work?

About the Author: Colorado Book Award-winning author M.E. Browning writes the Jo Wyatt Mysteries and the Agatha-nominated and award-winning Mer Cavallo Mysteries (as Micki Browning). Micki also writes short stories and nonfiction. Her work has appeared in dive magazines, anthologies, mystery magazines, and textbooks. An FBI National Academy graduate, Micki worked in municipal law enforcement for more than two decades and retired as a captain before turning to a life of crime… fiction. Visit mebrowning.com to learn more.

ABOUT MERCY CREEK:

In an idyllic Colorado town, a young girl goes missing—and the trail leads into the heart and mind of a remorseless killer. The late summer heat in Echo Valley, Colorado turns lush greenery into a tinder dry landscape. When a young girl mysteriously disappears, long buried grudges rekindle. Of the two Flores girls, Marisa was the one people pegged for trouble. Her younger sister, Lena, was the quiet daughter, dutiful and diligent—right until the moment she vanished. Detective Jo Wyatt is convinced the eleven-year-old girl didn’t run away and that a more sinister reason lurks behind her disappearance. For Jo, the case is personal, reaching far back into her past. But as she mines Lena’s fractured family life, she unearths a cache of secrets and half-lies that paints a darker picture. As the evidence mounts, so do the suspects, and when a witness steps forward with a shocking new revelation, Jo is forced to confront her doubts and her worst fears. Now, it's just a matter of time before the truth is revealed—or the killer makes another deadly move.

 BUY THE BOOK

M. E. Browning on Leaving Things Out

LUCY BURDETTE: I met Micki Browning in March when the Florida Book Awards were announced. She won the silver medal for Shadow Ridge when I won the bronze for THE KEY LIME CRIME. We were honored to appear on a panel together for the Midtown Reader in Tallahassee, and I loved her story, and thought you would too! Welcome Micki!

M.E. (Micki) Browning:  I have a penchant for creating characters who are considerably smarter than I am. On the plus side, it’s improved my research skills, satisfies my hunger to learn new things, and taught me to recognize what information to leave out. That last lesson was the most difficult one for me to master, in part because I didn’t initially recognize it was a problem—and not only a problem, but a symptom of a larger issue. To become the writer I wanted to be, I had to first decompress from the job I once held.

As a new writer, I thought transitioning from crime fighter to a crime writer would be easy. If you count police reports and grant writing, I was already a paid professional. As for experience, over the course of twenty-two years, I had participated in hundreds of hours of training and amassed a wealth of knowledge and experience. I could cite chapter and verse when it came to the elements required to prove a crime had in fact occurred. I knew my way around a courtroom and understood that a well-written report could keep me out of the courtroom. By the time I retired, I’d attained the rank of captain and was in charge of the administrative division of the agency. 

What I didn’t know was how little that information meant when it came to storytelling. The maxim exhorting wordsmiths to write what they know, while pithy, is somewhat misleading. It’s not what you know but what you leave out that is important. In my quest for accuracy, my first two completed manuscripts were dense with policies, procedures, and minutia. I was so busy educating my readers that I forgot to entertain them. 

It was time to pivot.

After retirement, my husband and I relocated to the Florida Keys. There, I created a character who was a teuthologist—a marine scientist who specialized in the study of octopuses. As a scientist, she possessed the analytical, organizational, and observations skills that would make her a good sleuth. Because the mystery involved a missing person, a detective played a supporting role. Each character saw the role of investigator through a different lens and they both required me to dribble in only the details that were critical to the plot. 

It hadn’t occurred to me before writing this post that my police character played a larger role in the second book in that series. I’d amped up the danger to my protagonist and it was natural that the detective had a more active role. In hindsight, I was flexing new skills and preparing myself to write the story I’d dreamed about creating. 

My first police procedural was my third published novel. All the things I left out made room for deeper characterization and improved pacing. The perspective resulted in a more honest portrayal. The second in the series will launch in October.

I’ve noticed a similar need for distance and perspective while dealing with the tumultuousness of the Year That Shall Not Be Named. At a recent event I was asked if I intended to incorporate the pandemic into my writing. My response? It’s too soon to do it justice—I don’t know what to leave out.

What about your writing? Has there ever been anything you’ve been so close to that it’s impacted your ability to write about it? Are there books that you won't read because they're too close to reality?

M.E. BROWNING served twenty-two years in law enforcement and retired as a captain before turning to a life of crime fiction. Writing as Micki Browning, she penned the Agatha-nominated and award-winning Mer Cavallo mysteries, and her short stories and nonfiction have appeared in anthologies, diving and mystery magazines, and textbooks. As M.E. Browning, she writes the Jo Wyatt Mysteries. The first in the series, Shadow Ridge, was a finalist in the Colorado Book Awards and a silver medalist in the Florida Book Awards. Mercy Creek launches October 2021.

About SHADOW RIDGE:

Death is one click away when a string of murders rocks a small Colorado town in the first mesmerizing novel in M. E. Browning’s A Jo Wyatt Mystery series.

Echo Valley, Colorado, is a place where the natural beauty of a stunning river valley meets a budding hipster urbanity. But when an internet stalker is revealed to be a cold-blooded killer in real life the peaceful community is rocked to its core.

It should have been an open-and-shut case: the suicide of Tye Horton, the designer of a cutting-edge video game. But Detective Jo Wyatt is immediately suspicious of Quinn Kirkwood, who reported the death. When Quinn reveals an internet stalker is terrorizing her, Jo is skeptical. Doubts aside, she delves into the claim and uncovers a link that ties Quinn to a small group of beta-testers who had worked with Horton. When a second member of the group dies in a car accident, Jo’s investigation leads her to the father of a young man who had killed himself a year earlier. But there’s more to this case than a suicide, and as Jo unearths the layers, a more sinister pattern begins to emerge–one driven by desperation, shame, and a single-minded drive for revenge.

Ps from Lucy, sorry about all the type size changes, Blogger would not listen to my suggestions!