Edging Toward One Finish and Celebrating Another by Lucy Burdette

 LUCY BURDETTE: I admire writers who manage to block out an entire plot before they begin writing. I am not one of them. I have a premise at the beginning, hopefully a good one, and an idea of my characters’ directions. Then I start in. You might remember that five of us Reds have been chatting behind the scenes to share our writing progress. This has been so helpful even if it’s demoralizing when my total word count is zero. It keeps me moving forward when I might otherwise become hopelessly distracted. 

A couple of weeks ago, I told these Reds that I finally figured out why I didn’t know who had committed the murder in book 16. I didn’t know enough about the suspects to understand who would really be capable of such a crime and why. Obvious right? But it felt like a breakthrough! That’s my process. Write and then think, write and think. This book (still untitled) is due September 1. I am probably 5/7 of the way through, and quite pleased with how it’s turning out. Here’s a tiny snippet from a second attack that takes place outside a daycare. (Now that I’ve written this, I’ll need to figure out what really happened.)

The night darkness was streaked with flashing blue and red lights, from four police vehicles and an ambulance. The multicolored dancing children painted on the outside cement wall were warped into distorted and throbbing figures by the strobe lights on the cars.

A gaggle of onlookers had gathered and were being pushed back to the edge of the property by officers, one of them Danielle's husband Jeremy. I struggled out of the back seat and wove through the crowd to get closer to him.

“Jeremy,” I hissed, waving him toward me. “Can you tell me what’s going on?”

He rolled his eyes as if to say I surely knew better but moved over to speak to me anyway. “From what I can tell, one of the employees from Toddlers and Tots was shot.” He pointed to a still form on the front lawn, covered with a foil blanket and surrounded by rescue workers. Several of them had dropped to their knees to tend to the victim. Police officers were interviewing a woman near the entrance to the building. “That’s Alice Mayhill, the owner. She called it in, after she heard noises in the yard, then what she believed to be a gunshot. She lives upstairs.”

“Have any suspects been apprehended?” asked Damian, who was now standing behind me. He placed a protective hand on my shoulder.

“None so far,” said Jeremy. One of the other officers began yelling for him. “Gotta go.”

“Miss Gloria probably knows more about this from listening to her police scanner than Jeremy does standing right in the thick of things,” I muttered.

Meanwhile, I’m working to set up promotion for THE MANGO MURDERS, arriving in bookstores near you on August 12. There will be a grand book launch at RJ Julia‘s in Madison CT on August 12 at 6:30 with cake, wine, and door prizes. This book party is kind of special because it celebrates novel number 25! 

I still remember my very first book event for SIX STROKES UNDER back in 2002. I told everyone I knew about it. We had so many people sign up that it had to be moved from the bookstore to the library. 

I certainly had no idea where the writing journey would take me, but 

I’m so glad to be here with all of you. 

What turn or outcome in your life has surprised you?

NaNoWriMo to the Rescue? #amwriting @LucyBurdette

“Write every day, just to keep in the habit, and remember that whatever you have written is neither as good nor as bad as you think it is. Just keep going, and tell yourself that you will fix it later.”  Jane Smiley

“Hold your nose and write.” Hallie Ephron

LUCY BURDETTE: NO, we are not talking about the election today. I'm sure we've all voted, haven't we? If not, take a minute now to run down to the polls--we'll wait here! 

Now, it's on to writing. Did you know that November is National Novel Writing Month, aka NaNoWriMo? 

Photo by Lainey's Repertoire

I have never participated in this as a. it seemed impossible to believe a person could write a decent book in a month and b. I didn’t think I needed this kind of structure. (Can you hear the writing gods rubbing their hands with glee?) And I should also say I’ve heard lots of stories from aspiring writers describing how they dumped 50,000 words on pages and then found the lump of exposition impossible to shape.

Lucy's going crazy while her sibs look on!

But on the other hand, I was stuck and sluggish. Yes, there were good solid life reasons I wasn’t writing—the annual trek down the east coast to Key West with two elderly animals takes a lot of planning and perseverance. And reading and worrying about the election could suck the life out of any creativity, right? Especially these last ugly weeks, no matter what side you were on.

But there were real writing issues too: What I’m working on is very different from what I’ve done before. Dark, for example, like the darkest pages of my Rebecca Butterman trilogy. Not cozy or quirky at all. And the food? Well no one’s eating anything in this book, except for nibbling at some ruined wedding food and a dish of macaroni and cheese that’s pretty much spoiled by the tension around the table. I’m working with almost all new characters too, with none of the warm familiarity of my Key West gang. And some of them are teenagers, so I have to really think about how they’d react and what they’d say. (It’s been a while since I’ve been in that age range.)

Photo by Paul L

And speaking of characters, I’m juggling multiple points of view, not utilizing the first person POV I’ve grown so comfortable writing. How many people do I need to tell the story? And how will I entice the reader to connect with each of them? It’s a challenge, I’ll tell you. I thought you might be interested in a tiny snippet where the two major protagonists meet…and no, it’s not located in my Key West paradise,  but rather the bowels of the New York City subway:

A train whooshed by, then another screeched to a halt. The doors of the subway car remained closed. One woman waited to disembark, tapping a leather-gloved hand on the window. Through the glass, Addy’s gaze locked onto the woman’s face. She had enormous blue eyes and blond curls and diamond earrings, like a princess. And she wore an expensive-looking gray coat—cashmere maybe—and a gray beret, shot through with silver threads. Though she seemed sad, she didn’t avert her eyes as most people did when they saw a homeless girl. Back when she’d first come to the city, after a few weeks on the street, Addy began to understand how they thought: She’s a druggie, a prostitute, a thief—she deserves what she gets.

And she knew she looked awful tonight—worse even than usual—frightened and pale and way too thin except for the bump in her middle where the baby had been, with streaks of blood on the coat and her sweatshirt. She looked at the helpless lump in her arms, then back at the woman on the train. She sent every ounce of sorrow and panic she was feeling through her gaze, then ducked away into the crowd.

So that’s my story for now! And I’m using the excuse of NaNoWriMo to force myself back into writing 1000 words a day. So far so good, I’ll keep you posted.

And by the way, if you’re interested in piling onto the November writing binge, beware of falling into the trap of googling writing tips and sites for NaNoWriMo (there are many!) I’ll share this one called the NaNoWriMo triage center, which includes lots of help for the many different ways a writer might get stuck. None of this is big news, but isn’t it funny how something you already know perfectly well can feel like a bolt of lightening when you see it at another time?

What tips do you use if you get stuck in a project?

Shrinks in Books and Movies @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: Having Dennis visit yesterday and talking about the essays of "true confessions from both sides of the therapy couch" got me thinking about how I got started in this writing business to begin with. And part of it was my dismay at the way shrinks have been portrayed in books and movies. Often we were shown as crazier than our patients or sleeping with our patients or merely bumbling fools… You get the idea. Two movies that come to mind are "What about Bob?" (crazier shrink than patient) and "Tin Cup" (shrink nuttier than her patient and sleeping with him too!)

From the very beginning, I wanted to use my training in clinical psychology by including reasonable psychologists in my novels. The challenge was to dream up characters who could use the principles of psychology to help solve mysteries without imploding with self-importance, stumbling over personal issues, or crossing ethical boundaries. If I put shrinks in my books, I wanted them to be complicated people with possibly difficult backgrounds, but aware of keeping boundaries and the general weight of their work. I didn't want them to scare off readers or watchers from trying psychotherapy if they needed it. I wanted to do it right.

For that reason I loved Judd Hirsch's gentle but firm therapist in Ordinary People. Did you believe in that breakthrough moment when Timothy Hutton, the younger brother of the dead boy, finally realized what happened the night his brother died? I sure did!

 

And even Tony Soprano's psychiatrist felt real to me, though I wouldn't have chosen to take on a mobster patient LOL. I can remember so clearly the moment when she struggled with the urge to use her patient, Tony, for revenge after she was raped, but ultimately chose not to.

Stephen White’s series featuring a clinical psychologist in Colorado was another great model for me. And Hallie's first books, written with Don Davidoff as G. H. Ephron, were wonderful examples of a decent psychologist. (And of course that's why we met!) I hoped that my psychologist characters, like Rebecca Butterman in Deadly Advice, would spring to life like those.



Now over to you Reds—do you notice fictional psychotherapists? Who are your favorite or least favorite shrink characters in books or movies—and why?

Jungle Red Roll Call--Count Off Now!

Hank (taking photo) Rhys and Debs at Bouchercon!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: So. Bouchercon. All kinds of fun and friendship PILES of books. But the thing that touched me the most was how many people said to me--"Oh! I love Jungle Red. And read it very day."  Great, great, great, I'd say. But then the person would continue:  "But I never comment."

"Oh!" I said. "Please say hello! It makes such a difference to all of us that we know you are there". And it truly does.

A better shot--with Andrew Grant and Molly Weston

So today is Jungle Red roll call. Lurkers and listeners, no problem. Lurking and listening is a good thing. But today, just today, tell us who you are and where you are--and what you're reading. Or are about to read. Or just finished and love. Or what you're working on.

I'm Hank Phillippi Ryan. It's really Harriet, okay? And I like it. (Now, at least.) I live in Boston, and am the investigative reporter for Boston's NBC affiliate. I've been a reporter for 40 years now! I'm in the midst of writing my 10th thriller, an untitled (as yet, and I'm sure you'll hear more about this) standalone, and am 74,000 words in. About 50,000 of those words are great. Plus, I've gotta hurry since it's due January 1. La dee dah.

 My newest thriller SAY NO MORE comes out November 1-- to amazing reviews!  (Ah. No pressure, it's just my career. And see below to win an ARC!)

I am in LOVE with the book I'm reading, called THE LAST DAYS OF NIGHT by Graham Moore--a historical thriller about the rivalry between Thomas Edison (my hero but I fear he's going to be the bad guy) and George Westinghouse. It is terrific.

I'm also about to start FORGOTTEN CITY by the brilliant Carrie White. She is amazing and her writing is,too.  (I found her via Robin Agnew of Aunt Agatha's.) 

And for inspiration, the brilliant REACHER SAID NOTHING, the hilarious and thoughtful Andy Martin's Boswellian chronicle of Lee Child. Highly recommended. 

 How about you? Lurkers, please! Chime in, if only just this once! 

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I'm Deborah Crombie (Deb or Debs to my friends, but NOT Debbie!) and I live in north Texas but I write British crime novels featuring Metropolitan Police detectives Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James. The 17th series novel, GARDEN OF LAMENTATIONS, is out February 17th (that's a nice coincidence) and I can't wait! In the meantime, I'm starting #18.

And I'm reading one of my Bouchercon giveaways, THE COLD, COLD GROUND, by Adrian McKinty, which is fabulous. McKinty has been on my to-read list for a good while, in part because Gerard Doyle, who reads my audio books, also reads McKinty and highly recommended him. Now I can see why. And I'm dying to read Andy Martin's REACHER SAID NOTHING. I heard so many good things about it at Bouchercon.

HALLIE EPHRON: I'm Hallie (not short for anything) Ephron and I live in suburb south of Boston and I write creepy suspense novels, standalones. I've set them in my hometown (NEVER TELL A LIE; COME AND FIND ME), in the Bronx (THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN), and in Beverly Hills where I grew up (NIGHT NIGHT, SLEEP TIGHT.) I'm waiting for my new novel (working title: YOU'LL NEVER KNOW, DEAR), which is set in South Carolina, to come back with copyedits. And I have only the slimmest glimmer of what I'm going to write next an panicking because I need to get it started. 

I teach writing at writing conferences, and right now I'm putting together materials for workshops I'll be giving at Surrey International Writers Conference (Vancouver, BC), a one-day for Mad Anthony Writers in Hamilton, Ohio, and the New England Crime Bake which is practically in my backyard.

I just finished reading Thomas Harris' Silence of the Lambs, which somehow I missed it. Brilliant brilliant plotting, writing that's nearly invisible and you get lost in it immediately, and Juliet Blackwell's LETTERS FROM PARIS which is a delicious romance wrapped in a historical mystery. And my TBR pile is tall and topped right now with Susan's THE QUEEN'S ACCOMPLICE.

SUSAN ELIA MACNEAL: Aw, thanks, Hallie! I'm usually just Susan, Susan MacNeal, or "Mom! MOM! MOOOOOOOOM!" I write the Maggie Hope series of New York Times-bestselling mysteries, set during World War II, which began with MR. CHURCHILL'S SECRETARY. The sixth book in the series, THE QUEEN'S ACCOMPLICE, is coming out October 4 and I'm hard at work on the next, THE PARIS SPY, which will be published in hardcover. I live with my husband and eleven-year-old son in Park Slope, Brooklyn. Right now I'm in serious deadline mode, but when the new book's in, I'm keen on reading the new Flavia De Luce, THRICE THE

BRINDED CAT HATH MEW'D by Alan Bradley, as well as the new Sherlock Holmes-inspired short story collection, ECHOES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, edited by Laurie R. King and Leslie S. Klinger (and featuring three of the Reds!).  

LUCY BURDETTE: I'm Lucy, aka Roberta Isleib, who was responsible for both the golf lovers and the advice column mystery series. For the last few years, I’ve been writing the Key West food critic mystery series as Lucy Burdette. The seventh book in that series featuring food critic Hayley Snow came out in April (KILLER TAKEOUT.) This series is set in Key West, Florida, a place I love dearly and live in for more than half the year. I always say if you can’t find characters and plot ideas in Key West, you’re not looking very hard.

I'm working on something new, but way too superstitious to tell you about it. Please all keep your fingers and toes crossed that it sells soon? And I'm reading Rhys Bowen's latest Georgie book, CROWNED AND DANGEROUS. It's funny and clever and falls for me in the category of "comfort reading," because I know the characters and it feels like visiting old friends. I also read LETTERS FROM PARIS, Hallie--great fun for francophiles! And just finished a book of essays about psychotherapy, that you'll hear more about week after next.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: My name is Julia Spencer-Fleming, which is actually my maiden name and believe it or not, my husband also has a hyphenated last name. I live in the countryside near Portland, Maine, in a 200-year-old house that always needs work. I have three kids: The Smithie, looking for that career-starting job after getting her MLIS degree; The Sailor (formerly The Boy) at A School in Naval Station Great Lakes, and Youngest, a junior in high school. I also have one dog, two cats, and I occasionally find time to work on writing the 9th book in my Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mystery series.

I recently read THE SUMMER BEFORE THE WAR by Helen Simonson, who authored the amazing MAJOR PETTIGREW'S LAST STAND. The new novel isn't as absorbing as PETTIGREW, and becomes much darker than I expected from the blurb, but it was full of perfectly realized, engaging characters, and I can recommend it to you all.

The next book up I haven't started yet: Curtis Sittenfeld's AMERICAN WIFE. I didn't read it when it came out because it didn't sound like my thing - a roman-a-clef about Laura Bush? - but I so enjoyed ELIGIBLE, I thought I'd give the earlier novel a try.

RHYS BOWEN:  My name is Rhys Bowen, which as some of you know is my grandfather’s name, taken as a pen name when I started writing mysteries (and I really prefer it to my given name!) I am a transplanted Brit who divides her time between California and Arizona. I currently write two historical mystery series: The Molly Murphy novels, set in New York City at the turn of the Twentieth Century and the lighter Royal Spyness books. But I have been working on something quite different so please look out for a big book announcement in the upcoming weeks. Very exciting and game changing for me!
As for reading: I read The Secrets of Wishtide by Kate Saunders on the plane coming home from Bouchercon. Victorian melodrama and I loved it. Next up, if I get time between juggling book deadlines, is Louise Penny’s latest The Great Deliverance.

HANK:  And we at Jungle Red send our most heartfelt condolences to Louise Penny on the death of her beloved (to all!) husband Michael. He was a joy.

And after today--my already towering TBR pile is about to go to critical mass. Julia, I LOVED Eligible! So glad someone else did. 

But Red and Readers--time for you to join the roll call! Regulars and lurkers, tell us about yourself and where you are and what you're reading and writing!  And one lucky commenter wins an advance copy of SAY NO MORE!


And coming up this week! Tomorrow, a famous new YA author looks back at some classics--with surprising results! (Truly, you won't believe it.) And later in the week--Gigi Pandian's best birthday gift EVER (we hope you get one, too); then a brilliant publicist gives the keys to success.  (Whoa.)  And more!

TWENTY REASONS WHY @LucyBurdette #amwriting #Redsonwriting



LUCY BURDETTE: With each of the mysteries I’ve written and had published (15 so far*), I've been required to turn in three chapters and a plot synopsis to my editor toward the beginning of the contract.  (Except for the first book ever, which I had to write to completion.) And it has never failed that my writing comes to a screeching halt somewhere in the middle because I don’t know what’s happening next.

“What does your synopsis say?” my husband always asks.

“Nothing, it says nothing! I’ve got nothing!” I moan in reply.

Then I try all my tricks—whine on Facebook, brainstorm with writers group, attempt to start at the end and work back to the point where I’m stuck. Eventually the ideas do come and the book gets written and this mid-book agony fades.

Since I have all those books under my belt, my agent and I have been hoping that I could provide the same kind of material for a new book, even though it’s in a slightly different genre. The idea would be that she’d try to sell this proposal while I write like mad.

 So I sent her 94 polished pages and a 10-page synopsis that I thought was in pretty good shape. Excellent, in fact. The best so far! Compelling! Full of plot twists and deep character change!

As we had planned, she is sending the proposal around, and I continue to write, referring to the synopsis as needed. I’m broken-hearted to report that the same thing is happening with number 16 as happened with number two: I'm 100 pages in and I’ve run out of plot. The synopsis, it turns out, was a summary of the first 100 pages and the ending. I’ve got precious little to fill the empty space in between those two points…

I'm trying not to panic, trying to follow the characters wherever they take me. After all, Hank and Rhys and Hallie never know quite where they're going with a book in progress and they've done pretty well, right? I even signed up for an online class sponsored by our New England chapter of Sisters in Crime, mostly because Susan Meier, the teacher (who is terrific by the way), promised a technique for generating plot ideas when all the natural ideas have run dry. One of her many good suggestions was pinpointing a plot question, and then giving yourself a very short (1-2 minutes) time to generate a list of possible answers. The thought is that the first few will lack freshness, but as you force your brain to work, some wild ideas are bound to surface. And some of them might even work! Here, let’s try…

Suppose I want to write a suspense book about a psychologist who has had her license to practice suspended. (Then I might imagine moving her to Key West where she might volunteer in some way in the local jail and get in some major trouble.) Of course, I will want the reason for her suspension to echo in the plot later. So in this example, one question is why did the ethics board suspend her license? Here are the first few possibilities I came up with—you can see they aren’t very imaginative—yet…

1. She slept with her patient
2. She bought drugs from her patient
3. She sold drugs to her patient
4. Her patient killed himself and his family has filed a negligence complaint
5. He pretended to kill himself and persuaded…as above
6. She stalked her patient
7. She created false records of patients and billed for them
8. Her patient is able to persuade the review board that she did sleep with him (though she didn’t)

So you get the idea…I haven’t found what I’m looking for yet because while I want her to be troubled in some way, I also want her to be appealing. I know the answer is out there. Somewhere. Anyone want to try?

*I couldn't resist lining them all up for a photo opp:)--aren't they pretty? Though in the night I heard them squabbling over who got the best cover artist....

Reds on #Writing: @LucyBurdette aka #RobertaIsleib

LUCY BURDETTE: You may well have read on Facebook that Penguin Random House is not renewing the Key West foodie mystery series. Though I’m sad about this, I’m not taking the news personally. Here’s why:

1. I don’t think it has much to do with either the quality of the books or the sales. Lots of mass-market cozy folks are ending up in the refugee boat with me—it’s a mysterious corporate decision over which we have no control.

2. It’s happened before and I’ve survived and thrived.

3. I will most likely continue the series in another form in the future.

4. The support and enthusiasm of readers has been a huge comfort!

But I thought it might be interesting to look back on my reaction to the news that the golf lovers’ mystery series was not getting renewed. (Hint: devastated.) I called this essay “Character Assassination.”

Losing a special friend hurts, even if you’re mourning a figment of your own imagination.

I’ve been getting to know my protagonist, professional golfer Cassie Burdette, since scratching out the opening paragraphs of my first mystery in January 1998. As with most fictional detectives, Cassie wrestled with skeletons in her closet: her father’s desertion, a melancholy, alcoholic mother, a fog of self-doubt. Ambivalence infused her relationships with men and she tended to defer soul-searching in favor of the anesthetic effects of Budweiser.  Notwithstanding these conflicts, I imagined Cassie eventually thriving on the professional golf circuit through a combination of talent, spunk, and the right friends.

With five golf mysteries in print by March 2006, Cassie and I have spent the better part of eight years together. I finally talked her into starting psychotherapy (with the help of a couple of other characters) to address her low self-esteem and self-destructive tendencies. She began to play better golf, choose kinder men, drink less, and reconnect with her dad.

Roberta/Lucy with LPGA golfer Kate Golden

Meanwhile, researching Cassie’s world took me on some amazing adventures. I spent most of my first (modest) advance paying to compete in a real professional-amateur LPGA tournament so I could absorb the correct ambience for book two.

And I played golf at Pinehurst, Palm Springs, and in the Dominican Republic—all tax-deductible without stretching the IRS code. I met and corresponded with professional golfers, and many fans—mystery fans, golf fans, and best of all, fans of both. These people worried about Cassie: how can she drink that much before a tournament? How can she eat like that and stay in shape? Lose the boyfriend—he’s a bum! Over coffee, my friends were more likely to ask what was new with Cassie, than with me. And reviewers hailed Cassie as “a character readers can root for.”

I’d begun plotting the skeleton for the sixth installment, involving a golf reality show, a hunky cop, and murder, of course.

Then the word came from my editor: “We’d rather see a new idea—the numbers just haven’t been that good…”

Surprised or not, I was flooded with sadness and disappointment. No more Cassie Burdette mysteries? Like the end of a souring romance, I wished I’d been the one to call it quits.

H.R.F. Keating

Days later, waiting to sign books at the Malice Domestic mystery convention, I sat next to an older man with a soft voice and a full beard. He introduced himself as H.R.F. Keating—the Malice honoree for lifetime achievement, including twenty-five novels in his Inspector Ghote series. In response to his kind interest, I spilled the news that Cassie’s series was being killed. I'm quite certain that I cried. He assured me that he’d often thought his series went on too long, that perhaps years ago he’d said all he really had to say, and that seven books might be the optimum length for a series. Then the doors opened and a crush of fans queued up to have him sign books that spanned forty years.

Twenty-five novels, each one nudging back a little further the curtain obscuring Inspector Ghote’s personality: I realized there are many things I’ll never know about Cassie. Will she win a tournament? Have a relationship with golf psychologist Joe Lancaster? Get married?  Overcome her fear of kids? Hey, I’ll never know if I’m a grandmother.

But life in the publishing business lumbers on: I’ve signed a contract for my next writing adventure. The new series will feature psychologist and advice columnist, Dr. Rebecca Butterman, a woman who made cameo appearances in several of the golf mysteries. 

 Cassie wasn’t crazy about her—I can hear her voice now: “You’re writing about a psychologist? Rebecca Butterman? Bor-ing.”

And PS, back to me in the present, wasn't I so lucky to be seated next to that sweet man at the exact moment I needed his calm? And ps, Cassie did make a brief appearance in ASKING FOR MURDER and DEATH WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS. I am a fictional grandmother.  

Meanwhile, I am working madly on several projects, but I'm feeling very superstitious. So I decided not to say much about them…I'm not being a tease, I swear, just nauseously nervously anxiously cautious.

Reds and Red readers, how long do you think a series should run?

On Leadership @LucyBurdette

"Great leaders are a paradoxical blend of personal humility and professional will. They are more like Lincoln and Socrates than Patton or Caesar." Jim Collins

LUCY BURDETTE: For several reasons, I've had leadership on my mind this week. One is the political circus – and I promise we won't let this discussion deteriorate into politics. But it is hard to keep from imagining which one of these folks could possibly lead our country in a positive direction...
 
The other reason is that I began attending a Leadership Success Academy on Thursday, run by the Community Foundation of the Florida Keys. This is designed to help all kinds of nonprofit board members improve their leadership skills. (I'm a member of the board of the Friends of the Key West Library, and the Friends' newsletter editor. Check those out here.) 

I've served on lots of boards in the past, without much training. Probably the most dramatic was when a local board had deteriorated into two rival camps unable to agree on anything. I was working as a clinical psychologist, and I think for that reason was asked to take temporary chairmanship, with the goal of helping the board simmer down and move forward. The meetings up to this point had essentially been screaming matches. So I went to the first meeting as temporary chair carrying a large soup spoon, which I planned to beat on the table when necessary. 

These days, nobody much remembers how all that junk was resolved, but they remember my spoon-gavel. And I mined lots of fodder from those conflicts for my third golf lovers mystery, PUTT TO DEATH. (My working title for this had been BOARD TO DEATH LOL.)

Back to the leadership academy: we were asked to do an exercise before the first meeting which helped identify our most comfortable style, or as the facilitator called it, the lens through which we see the world. The choices were the analyst (focus is on data, logic, structure, plans, policies), the caregiver (focus is on skills, attitudes, teamwork, communications), the warrior (focus is on building a power base, getting access, influencing key players), and the wizard (meaning, belief, faith, developing shared values).

Not surprisingly, I came out as a caregiver, and was least strong as a warrior. (In spite of the soup spoon incident, I don't really like taking on conflict, the way warriors do.) The idea isn't that one approach is better than another--it's that if you know yourself and how you tend to see the world, you can shift points of view, understand the other players, and become a more effective leader.

Any stories about leadership roles you've held? Or great leaders you've observed? What made them great? (Gosh we need great leaders in our world today...)

Advice Can Be Deadly @LucyBurdette #mystery

LUCY BURDETTE: Today I’m celebrating because the third book in my advice column mystery series is finally out as an ebook! Dr. Butterman (AKA Dr. Aster), the main character in this series, including ASKING FOR MURDER, is an advice columnist. Even though I’m a psychologist and an advice column junkie, I found that writing her columns was not so easy. After cranking out three of her books, I figured out how she would describe her approach: “Most people have a pretty good idea of where they’re already headed when they ask for advice. A wise friend simply shines a flashlight on the path.” 

But it didn’t come naturally to me, and I realize that other advice-giving professionals struggle too.

Dr. Phil, for example, is not one to stand by on the sidelines holding a flashlight. In 2006 while visiting Los Angeles for the “Sisters in Crime Goes to Hollywood” conference, I attended the filming of one of the shows in the doctor’s live studio audience. A pair of sisters who’d been estranged by boyfriend/husband issues fought like cats and dogs for the better part of their fifteen-minute segment. Even Dr. Phil, an expert on handling catfights, looked defeated by the end of the show. These women had come to Dr. Phil for help as a last resort, but darned if they were going to let him get a word in edgewise. After several attempts to expose the bones of the problem and redirect the sisters, he slumped on his barstool, chin in hand, and rolled his eyes at the audience—as if asking the question “where did I go wrong?”
 And Dr. Butterman (aka Dr. Aster) has a very young editor who always wants the columns a little more chipper than feels right to Rebecca. Here’s a little excerpt from ASKING FOR MURDER, showing how she sometimes struggled to hit the right note too:

I used the remaining minutes of my aborted lunch hour to choose a question for my advice column and rough out an answer. I’m a clinical psychologist by day, but in the off hours, I whisk on my advice columnist cloak and write the Ask Dr. Aster column for Bloom! ezine. Sometimes the column feels downright silly; other times, profound. I love it most when it evolves into a Greek chorus of my life, that I didn’t consciously intend. 

This month, my twelve-year-old (a slight exaggeration) editor, Jillian, had asked for columns that fit the category “Bloom! In spring!” In other words, no downers, no freaking stages of grief, no miserable housewives in housecoats abandoned by their freshly-vital, chemically-driven husbands. The advice should be uplifting, encouraging, bursting with new life and new possibilities. Sigh again.

“Happy people don’t ask for advice,” I told her.

“You’ll come up with something!” she chirped back. “I’ll check in with you later in the week.” (Scroll all the way to the bottom to read the column she came up with.)
   
LUCY AGAIN: I read every advice column I come across, but my favorite is Philip Galanes, who writes “Social Q’s” for the New York Times Style section every Sunday. He’s funny and sensible and pulls no punches. Dr. Aster could definitely learn from him!

Do you read advice columns? Any particular advice that has struck home?

And don’t forget, ASKING FOR MURDER is now available for Kindle. You can download it right here.

PS My favorite advice column fangirl moment? Our friend Pat Kennedy introduced me to Margo Howard, Ann Landers’s daughter, and a stellar columnist herself. She kept writing as she was reading DEADLY ADVICE, wondering if she'd sussed out the murderer: "I think it’s XXX. No it must be YYY." And so on. And here was her blurb:

A really plummy mystery, flawlessly plotted, that I especially loved because the heroine is an advice columnist – and a good one! Margo Howard
       “Dear Margo” on Yahoo! News and in 200 newspapers.
                                 (Formerly “Dear Prudence”)


Dear Dr. Aster: 

I volunteer at a local charity that fights mental illness.  I got involved because I believe in the cause, but I also hoped it might be a way to meet a nice guy with similar interests. (Isn’t that what you always recommend to your readers?)  The people on my committee are smart, caring, dedicated--and all married, except for one widower who's slightly older than me though smart and attractive. Lately the married folks take every opportunity to push us together.  There's a lot of winking and elbowing going on, and it's very embarrassing.  He's a nice guy, but there's no chemistry between us—certainly not on my side!  What can I do to stop the matchmaking?  I’d hate to ditch the committee to escape the man.
Yenta's Volunteer Victim in Vermont

Dear Yenta’s Victim:

    Gold stars are in order—I do recommend exactly the path you’ve taken. But oh dear, I had not anticipated this particular roadblock. One question: does Mr. Wonderful seem to feel the same lack of chemistry that you do? If so, it might be easy enough to enlist his help in shrugging off the well-meaning nudges. However, if he appears to have feelings for you, you’ll need another tactic. How about dropping a few not-so-subtle hints about the recent social whirl your new BOYFRIEND has swept you up in?
    And here’s one more thought: Since you signed your letter “Volunteer Victim,” don’t overlook your possible contribution to the drama that’s unfolded. Your fellow workers might be reacting to your subtly-sawing violin strings. Check to be sure you haven’t been moaning about your single status without being aware of it! If that’s the case, dost thou protest too much?
                    Keep up the good works and Happy Spring!

DEADLY ADVICE #advicecolumn #mystery #ebook

LUCY BURDETTE: I have often wondered whether the mystery series I wrote before the food critic mysteries might have gotten more traction if it had been published in the era of ebooks and social media. No way to tell, of course, but the happy news is that the first book in the series, DEADLY ADVICE (written as Roberta Isleib), is now available for Kindle. 
 
The book stars Dr. Rebecca Butterman, a clinical psychologist and advice columnist living in Connecticut. She works out of an office in New Haven (in the same building where I had my private practice,) and she explores many of the places on the Connecticut shoreline that I've grown to know and love.

Although this series is a little edgier than the food critic mysteries, the books are close to my heart because they draw so much from my previous career as a psychologist. In a poignant coincidence, given the terrible news two weeks ago about Robin Williams, DEADLY ADVICE opens with the mysterious suicide of Dr. Butterman's neighbor. She feels doubly troubled about this death, thinking she should have noticed something was wrong--both as a professional and as a neighbor.

In addition to my sleuth’s background, that opening scene is also rooted in my graduate school days. During my final year, newly separated, I lived in an anonymous apartment complex with only a nodding acquaintance of the other residents. Each morning, my taciturn next-door neighbor left for work at 7:30, returning by six. Some nights she’d cook one hamburger on the grill outside her door. Medium well, I’d think, considering the time it sat on the coals. How sad, I’d think. Is that me? I’d wonder next.

One evening, I came home from the library and noticed a small U-Haul parked in front of her apartment. An older couple was loading the contents of her place into the van. Over coffee the next morning, I skimmed the newspaper as usual, and noticed a small article near the bottom of an interior page. Based on this paragraph, I realized that my neighbor had shot herself several days earlier. Her body had lain in the apartment next to mine for over forty-eight hours before someone found her.

I felt shocked and sad. Isn’t this every single woman’s worst nightmare—dead two days and no one even notices you’re gone? As you can imagine, this incident has always haunted me.

Years later, that’s where DEADLY ADVICE began. When Dr. Rebecca Butterman returns home to find her neighbor an apparent suicide, she's wracked with guilt.  As a psychologist and advice columnist, she’s an expert! She should have been able to help the young woman. But the neighbor’s mother suspects foul play, and soon persuades Rebecca to investigate the possibility of murder. 

When Rebecca Butterman is troubled, she cooks. Like Hayley Snow in the Key West mysteries, she loves to cook, to eat, and to share meals with her best women friends. But she doesn't think so much about the meaning of food the way food critic Hayley does. She's too busy puzzling over what makes people tick...

In honor of the launch of DEADLY ADVICE as e-book, I'm happy to share one of Dr. Butterman's favorite recipes, beef carbonnade. She would tell you to start the dish the day before you plan to eat it so it can sit in the refrigerator overnight, allowing the flavors to blend. She would also tell you that serving this meal to sad people might make their world a tiny bit brighter.

We hope you enjoy the book and the stew!

True Crime Scotland Yard Style

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Here at Jungle Red we all write crime fiction, so we are accustomed to imagining and inventing all sorts of corruption and nefarious doings. And because I in particular write contemporary British police procedurals, I've long been aware that things within the Met can be less than peachy.

I've read the autobiographies of a number of recent Scotland Yard commissioners and senior officers, the most interesting among them Brian Paddick's Line of Fire. Paddick, the most senior openly gay officer in the Metropolitan Police, was at the time of his retirement in May 2007 Deputy Assistant Commissioner. Paddick had already had several run-ins with Murdoch's media machine, but when in 2005 his accounting of the Stockwell shooting of Jean Charles de Menzies differed from the official one, it effectively ended his career.

In light of the recent disclosures involving the intertwining of Sir Rupert Murdoch's media empire with the higher levels of the Metropolitan Police, one might be given to some interesting speculation here.

That, of course, is what we writers do. Speculate. I've certainly speculated about corruption in the upper levels of the Met, and I've considered such things as useful plot devices. But I'm just as disillusioned as anyone to find that life has so blatantly imitated art, and to see the reputation of the Met so tarnished.

Sir Paul Stephenson, the commissioner of the Met, has stepped down, leaving the post open.

But it could be that some good things will come of the airing of the Met's dirty laundry. It's possible that the Met might have its first female commissioner. Sara Thornton, chief constable of Thames Valley Police, is the 2-1 favorite for the job.

Yes, trust the Brits. The bookies are laying odds on the appointment.

And Chief Constable Thornton, at least in this photo, looks the tiniest bit like Helen Mirren. That would be one for the books.

So, Jungle Reds and dear readers--anyone want to make a wager?

Those Little Addictions

Deborah Crombie: Don't worry, I'm not talking about Twelve Step stuff
here, but about the little things that creep into our lives. The things we take for granted, then assume we can't do without.

Not that there aren't little addictions that we consciously deem necessary--I confess, mine is tea. I did go without tea once, when I was pregnant with my daughter. I swore I'd never do it again, and I
still stand by my resolution. Well, I probably could write without tea, but it wouldn't be nearly as much fun. . .

But I recently discovered that something I'd thought a necessity was surprisingly easy to give up--the daily newspaper. I grew up in a household where my parents read both the local paper, the Dallas Morning News, and the Wall Street Journal, so newspapers had been a part of my life for as long as I could remember. And I'd subscribed to the Dallas Morning News for, well, most of my adult life. It was such a part of my morning routine: flipping through the sections to find the ones I liked, perusing them over breakfast and then another cup or two of tea.

But the paper got smaller and smaller, the subscription price didn't go down, and I found I was getting most of my news online. So at the beginning of the summer, after a lot of agonizing over the decision, I went cold turkey. No "Just the Sunday edition." No paper, period.

And what I've found is that I don't miss it at all. Not the least little bit. In fact, it's been liberating. I can read a book while I eat my toast. Or listen to a book. Or make notes for my own book. Or--the best thing--stare out the kitchen window at the hummingbirds zipping around the feeder. Quiet time.

I am not advocating or applauding the slow decline of print newspapers, by the way. I am as distressed as anyone over the demise of many of the best book review sections, and perhaps if the DMNs hadn't become a shade of its former self, I'd have found the parting harder. But for me giving up the paper has been a welcome bit of simplification.

What about you, Jungle Reds? Are there any little things that steal your time that you might find you could do without?

ROSEMARY HARRIS: It's hardly original to say that the computer is stealing my time - but that doesn't make it any less true. One thing I've done to fight back is to turn off the sound notifying me that I have a new email. I felt like a complete dope for never having done it before. And I suppose I could live without watching the early rounds of a tennis tournament - do I really need to see Rafa Nadal humiliate some poor guy from Uzbekistan?

What I can't do without are my periodic walks around my garden. A few times a day I feel the need to "walk the back 40" as I refer to it. I prune, I plan, I think, I chill. Then I come back and sometimes check emails.

LUCY BURDETTE: (AKA Roberta) We get the NEW YORK TIMES delivered daily. There are plenty of days that I can't get through all of it, but I nibble on it across the day--a little at breakfast, a little at lunch, and then maybe a bit more while making a cup of coffee. And Sundays, forget about it. I would HATE to give up the real estate and style sections. Not that I'll ever own a place in New York, but I love reading about the hunt for the right apartment. And the food section on Wednesday, of course. No not giving those up Debs!

DEBS: Okay, I have to confess. I do miss the food section. My friend usually saves it for me, but I have about three weeks worth of those I haven't read (maybe partly because it's too hot to even think about cooking here.) And you are talking about The New York Times, which I think would a little harder to part with . . .

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Yes, we do "the back forty" too--every night when we get home from work. Lovely, and now the dahlias are starting. But--my addictions have to do with food, too. And they're like--serial addictions. For awhile, a few years ago, I was craving toasted sesame bagels with strawberry jam. I mean--I loved them, wanted them, had them every day. I could have lived on only that.

Before that, it was-and you can tell it was when I was single--baked potatoes with sour cream and broccoli. Honestly, I would start thinking about it on the subway on the way home from work ,and I just could not wait to have that for dinner. I bet--I had it for a year.

And then, just like the strawberry jam bagels--there comes a moment when I think--ACCK! Never never never again.

And Debs, we've gotta talk. You can't give up the newspaper. Gosh, I really couldn't. If I don't read the papers in the morning, I feel like--I'm missing something. And Sundays? Ritual.

RHYS BOWEN: My kids have always told me that I'm addicted to tea at tea time. Have to have my cup on the dot of 4 p.m. On the beach in Hawaii I'd suddenly leap up and start looking for a tea shop while the kids teased me.

Facebook--I'm on the way to becoming addicted. Project Runway for a while. Now I've taken the twelve step and I'm over that. I wish I had a garden to walk around--I'm on a hill so steep that only the deer can walk without slipping.

I could watch tennis non-stop every day--even Raffa against a guy from Uzbekistan. And I'm thrilled to say I have two days of tennis next year at the Olympics. Yeah!

HALLIE EPHRON: Say it ain't so, Debs - you gave up the NEWSPAPER?! Sure, there are "little things that steal [my] time that [I] might find [I] could do without, but my morning paper isn't one of them. I get up and write; and after a few hours the paper is my reward. The real on paper paper -- reading it online is so not the same experience, don't ask me why.

What I wish I could do without: blow drying my hair.

And I so agree with Ro - the big time sink is the computer -- specifically the Internet. On a good day I disconnect from the network when I start to write.

DEBS: Hallie, there wasn't much left to read in the Dallas Morning News. Funny, I read more than one paper every day obsessively when I'm in the UK. But you are all right about the internet. I think I'm going to have to start going somewhere without wi-fi to write, and turn off my phone. Don't get me wrong, I love my phone, but with smart phones you NEVER get away from it.

Unless, of course, you can go somewhere like the Reading Room in the Bodleian Library in Oxford, which is not only my fantasy work space, but a little tease for the upcoming week.

Later this week we have Susan Conant chatting about her new Holly Winter book, Emily Arsenault on In Search of the Rose Notes, and on Friday, Deborah Harkness will be here to tell us some unexpected things about one of this year's publishing sensations, A Discovery of Witches.

So, JR readers, are there things you could give up that would make your lives a wee bit simpler? (And that would not include BOOKS.)