#WriterWednesday Interview with the Moonlight and Misadventure Authors

I’d like to welcome Joseph S. Walker, Sharon Hart Addy, M. H. Callway, Tracy Falenwolfe, Kate Fellowes, Jeanne Dubois, Robert Weibezahl, K. L. Abrahamson, and Susan Jane Wright to the blog today to celebrate their latest anthology, Moonlight and Misadventure, edited by Judy Penz Sheluk.

JOSEPH S. WALKER, ‘Crown Jewel’

The most exciting thing about your writing life:  I’d say there are two genuinely exciting things about writing. The first is the feeling of getting into a groove where a story is just clicking along, seemingly without any conscious guidance from me. At least in my experience, starting a story is sheer agony; actually writing, once you’re in that place, is simply fun. The second exciting thing has been the contacts I’ve made because of writing. Because of my writing, I’m now in regular touch with many other writers, including a number I’ve admired for many years. There’s also the pleasure of hearing from people who enjoyed your work, and just being part of the mystery community in general. Especially over the past couple of years, that’s been a godsend. I suppose it’s a paradox that the fundamentally solitary activity of writing has greatly increased my social circle.

The one thing you wish you could do over in your writing life:  Start sooner!  I always knew I wanted to be a writer, but I was paralyzed by self-doubt. I started dozens of stories and never finished them. I was forty before I started submitting fiction, and it’s really only been in the last few years that I’ve really dedicated most of my (non-work) time to it. Maybe I needed those years to fully develop, but my sense is that I just cost myself a lot of productive writing years for no reason.

 SHARON HART ADDY, ‘The Library Clue’

The nicest thing a reader said to you: Your book Lucky Jake is my son’s favorite.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: My son Jake thinks you wrote Lucky Jake for him.

 M.H. CALLWAY, ‘The Moon God of Broadmoor’

Something you wish you could do: I’d love to be a mountain climber. I run, ski and hike, but I’ve never tried rock climbing. Tales of “exposure” or dangling over a fall of thousands of feet are too scary. I’m happy to remain an armchair adventurer and to read about climbing feats.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: To write and read bureaucratese after spending a working career in government. Mind you, it’s given me great comedy material to use in my writing.

JUDY PENZ SHELUK, ‘Strawberry Moon’

Favorite thing to do when you have free time: Golf.

The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to do list: Clean the house (especially dusting, I mean, it’s just dusty again the next day, right?)

TRACY FALENWOLFE, ‘Cereus Thinking’

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: A panda bear. No kidding. When we were kids, my brother and I rode our bikes around on adventures and called each other Bebs One and Bebs Two. Bebs was a panda bear. I was even making stuff up back then.

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: I spend a lot of time yelling at people to take shorter showers, to stop holding the refrigerator door open for so long, and to keep their hands off the thermostat.

 KATE FELLOWES, ‘The Currency of Wishes’

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: A child detective, like Trixie Belden.

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: Punch a clock.

JEANNE DUBOIS, ‘Moonset’

Favorite places you’ve been: St. Augustine Beach in September, northern California in June, anywhere in spring, Ireland anytime.

Places you never want to go again: Boston in winter. Too many layers. For one visit in February of 2013, I purchased a clearance puffer coat online. I soon discovered why it was so cheap. The coat was white. I “disappeared” in the blizzard that weekend.

 ROBERT WEIBEZAHL, ‘Just Like Peg Entwhistle

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Tried out for Jeopardy! It took a few online tests and a couple of auditions but I was finally selected to be on the show … and I won!
Something you chickened out from doing: Going to graduate school. Had even sent in the deposit and was making plans but changed my mind the summer before. 30+ years later I finally went back to school and got that elusive masters.

 K.L. ABRAHAMSON, ‘Chicken Coops and Bread Pudding’

The funniest thing that happened to you on vacation: My 'vacations' may not be like most people's. I like to grab a backpack and go off on my own to strange places in the world. This story happened travelling in Northern India along the Indo-Chinese border. Now you have to understand that I am six feet + tall and I wear my hair short. When I travel in placed like India this can be an advantage because I am rarely harassed by men. I also wear baggy clothing and a photographer's vest so people can't see my shape. Along the border the local bus I was on had to frequently stop for armed security checkpoints. Foreigners had to disembark and present their passports. There were only a few foreigners on this bus so we all lined up with passports at the ready. When my turn came they opened the passport and took down most of my information. Then the guards (who spoke no English) stopped and looked at me, then down at their ledger and back at me. Then they laughed nervously. That was when it hit me. They didn't know whether I was a man or a woman because of my 'disguise'. In response I opened my vest and showed them that I had breasts (through my t-shirt of course). Much laughter ensued, but they gave me back my passport and my travels continued…

The most embarrassing thing that happened to you on a vacation: Picture the ruins of Angkor Wat. Picture monsoon rains and two tourists and their guide huddled in a hut waiting for the rain to lessen. Unfortunately, the Cambodian cooking took a bad turn in my stomach and I urgently needed to relieve myself. Finally, the guide allowed me to go out to find a private place in the brush. I did.

I thought. I pulled down my trousers and squatted among the ferns and vines in the pouring rain just in time for line of villagers peddling bikes through the underbrush. I was three feet from a trail that I hadn't seen through the downpour! Again, much laughter, but I still color-up at that memory.

 SUSAN JANE WRIGHT, ‘Madeleine in the Moonlight’

Something you're really good at: I can count large groups of things very fast. I discovered this as a summer student working for biologist. I could count the number of butterfly eggs on the back of a leaf in a flash. I was accurate too. It's an interesting skill but not highly valued in the real world.

Something you're really bad at: Watching scary movies. My daughters refuse to take me with them to the cinema because I scream at the slightest provocation and scare the audience.

 About the book

Whether it’s vintage Hollywood, the Florida everglades, the Atlantic City boardwalk, or a farmhouse in Western Canada, the twenty authors represented in this collection of mystery and suspense interpret the overarching theme of “moonlight and misadventure” in their own inimitable style where only one thing is assured: Waxing, waning, gibbous, or full, the moon is always there, illuminating things better left in the dark.

Featuring stories by K.L. Abrahamson, Sharon Hart Addy, C.W. Blackwell, Clark Boyd, M.H. Callway, Michael A. Clark, Susan Daly, Buzz Dixon, Jeanne DuBois, Elizabeth Elwood, Tracy Falenwolfe, Kate Fellowes, John M. Floyd, Billy Houston, Bethany Maines, Judy Penz Sheluk, KM Rockwood, Joseph S. Walker, Robert Weibezahl, and Susan Jane Wright.

About our Editor, Judy Penz Sheluk

A former journalist and magazine editor, Judy Penz Sheluk is the author of two mystery series: The Glass Dolphin Mysteries and the Marketville Mysteries. Her short crime fiction appears in several collections, including The Best Laid Plans, Heartbreaks & Half-truths, and Moonlight & Misadventure, which she also edited.

Judy is a member of Sisters in Crime National, Toronto, and Guppy Chapters, International Thriller Writers, the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Crime Writers of Canada, where she serves as Chair on the Board of Directors.

 Find the Book:

Moonlight and Misadventure

Writing Advice from the DEADLY SOUTHERN CHARM Authors

I’m very excited to be a part of DEADLY SOUTHERN CHARM anthology, and I’m thrilled to have my writer friends as guests on the blog to share their advice on writing and book marketing.

What is the one thing about the writing life that you didn’t know until you were published?

 Mollie: I didn’t realize that you don’t make much money. Of course, I didn’t start writing to make money. I absolutely LOVE what I do. And the further I get into my career, the more I see that loving it the ONLY reason to do it. If you don’t love the thrill of a perfect sentence, or the way a story moves you, you won’t find the business gratifying.

 Heather: I didn’t realize how much marketing was involved with the book business. It takes a great deal of time to promote your work. You need to balance your writing tasks with your promotional ones.

 Lynn:  I didn’t realize that the moment I turned it into my publisher it wasn’t MY book anymore. It was OUR book. People kept messing with my book. Now, they were all good things and comments, but I didn’t know how collaborative book publishing really is. Even for my self- published books. Best advice? Make sure you agree with and trust the people working with you.

 Kristin: Authors write their first draft for themselves, but revise-revise-revise for their readers.

 Maggie: There’s a lot to do in the way of marketing, promotion, etc. My advice is to know your personal goals for your work: is it money (good luck!), love of writing, posterity? Perhaps publishing a book is a bucket list item, and multi-publishing isn’t your goal. It’s great to share inspiration and support with fellow authors, but avoid the keeping up the Joneses syndrome.

 Genilee: How important it is to force yourself to set aside time every day to write and how hard marketing a book can be in today’s complicated world of publishing.

 J.A.: How much work is involved that doesn’t involve writing. Marketing is a big part of the job and can be very time consuming.

 How long did it take you to get your first work published (from creation to actual book)? What was your first published work?

 Mollie: For fiction, it was probably 6 months. I had already been a published nonfiction author for years and agent said if I wanted to write fiction, they’d love to see it. I’d been write fiction for years  and had an idea brewing, so I wrote the first draft of “Scrapbook of Secrets” during National Novel Writing Month and after several drafts, sent it on to my agent.

 Heather:  My first mystery was a short story, “Washed up” in Virginia is for Mysteries, a Sister in Crime anthology. It took about six months to write and polish. The book process probably took another eight months or so. My first mystery novel, Secret Lives and Private Eyes took me about five years to write and rewrite (and rewrite). When it was finally accepted for publication, it took another seven months to become a book.

 Lynn:  My first published work was a couple of essays I wrote and got published during the year of cancer (2007). A few years after that I wrote for the Trues market – short emotional stories with a twist. (I fell in Love with a Carney was my first credit with them.) Then in 2012, I got back a book that had been rejected by a large romance publisher after two years of back and forth consideration. I sent it to a soon to open digital first imprint. It sold in a week. In total, the process took from creation to sale, about three years. My first mystery sold the next year in a three-book deal to Kensington.

 Kristin: I’d been writing fiction for about 6 years before I had anything published.  My first published work was a short historical mystery, “The Sevens” which was selected from a blind pool of submissions to be included in Bouchercon’s anthology, MURDER UNDER THE OAKS.  From the first moment I typed a word to the release date was ten months.

 Maggie: “A Not So Genteel Murder,” a short story featured in the Virginia is for Mysteries anthology, was my first published work (2014). Writing and polishing the story took about six months, and the publishing process another six to eight months. Later in 2014, I published my first novel, Murder at the Book Group. That took me forever to write—ten years!—and another 18 months from contract signing to release day.    

 Genilee: It took my mother four months to write the first book (Twist of Fate) in our five-book The Fate Series. It then took me six months to rewrite, edit and find a publisher. It took the publisher about four months to get it in print and formatted as an ebook.

 J.A.: My first published story was, Bikes, Books and Berries. It was part of the Virginia is for Mysteries Vol II mystery anthology. It took about six months to write and rewrite before submission.

 Plotter (one who plans or plots out every detail of the writing process) or Pantser (one who writes by the seat of his/her pants)?

 Mollie: Definitely a pantser—which I why the synopsis is so hard for me. I like the idea of a story unfolding organically and, in truth, it’s made some of the best stories in my career.

 Heather: I’m a combination of the two. I start out as a detailed plotter. I even bought a huge whiteboard for my writing room. And then I write. The story and the characters always go where they want to do.

 Lynn:  I’m definitely a pantser. I do an outline chart with all the chapters listed to keep my timelines straight. It also helps me keep my chapters about even. And I break out the story structure on that. Red Herring #1, Red Herring #2, Big Black Moment, Happy Ever After... It gives me something to write toward, but the story and character take over.

 Kristin: I’m a relaxed plotter.  I can’t start writing a story (novel or short) until I know the final scene or the twist.  I’ve stopped creating outlines, though.  Now I just jot down the major scene points and let my characters take the scenic route from stop to stop. I love when they surprise me!

 Maggie: Like Heather, I’m a plotser (combo of plotter and pantser). I have a general outline, but I “listen” to the characters as I write. They have their own ideas.

 Genilee: I think we’ve created a new term: plotser! I sit down to write with no particular direction in mind, but I’m outlining and redoing everything as I go to make it all make sense and flow.

 J.A.: Short stories I usually panster. Novels I’m a plotter. I like outlines, and I need them to make sure I don’t skip any necessary details.

 What is the easiest part of the writing process for you?

 Mollie: Coming with ideas is very easy. Making them work, not so easy.

 Heather: I love to write. I just tend to get bogged down in the editing and rewrites.

 Lynn:  There’s supposed to be an easy part? I worry that I’m taking too long to write. I worry that I’m too fast. I worry I didn’t do enough to launch the book... it goes on and on. The best part for me is the planning or scheduling. What am I writing this month, promotions, edits, releasing or travel, it all goes in a word document as well as on my on-line calendar. I love planning and can get lost in the process without writing if I’m not careful.

 Kristin: I love drafting.  I don’t let myself edit as I write my way through the first draft, so I feel like I’m merely transcribing a movie that’s scrolling in my mind. That said, all the magic happens in the revising stage.

 Maggie: Idea generation. I love the ideas I come up with on my daily walks. Developing them on the page? Not so easy.

 Genilee: Putting words together the right way. I do it for a living through different channels (magazines, newsletters and articles).

 J.A.:  I enjoy writing dialogue. If a scene is working the dialogue comes easy. When the dialogue is off, I know I need to rewrite.

 What advice do you have for a new writer?

 Mollie: Be patient with yourself. Learn the craft. Practice. Take classes. Write and rewrite. I don’t care how good your agent is or how much money you have to promote something—it’s your writing that will ultimately set you apart.

 Heather: Be persistent. If you want to be published, keep at it. Keep writing. Keep learning. Writing is a business.

 Lynn:  Writing is a business is a big one for me. Since I started with smaller publishers, I was around a lot of writers who were dabbling in the business without committing. You have to commit. You don’t have to write. It’s like giving yourself homework every night. But don’t tell me you WANT to be an author. Write or don’t, there is no try to paraphrase Yoda. And don’t get lost in the internet talk about the latest scandal (because there’s always a new one.) If it doesn’t affect your career, don’t let it steal your writing time.

 Kristin: There’s only one rule for writers: Keep your butt in the chair. Progress, even just a few paragraphs at a time, is still progress. 

 Maggie: Carve out time for writing every day (or most days), even if it’s just fifteen minutes. Use a notebook or recording method to keep track of ideas, to-do items, etc. Find systems that work for you. Read the best writers in your genre. Bottom line: write.

 Genilee: Don’t go into this field thinking you’ll be rich and famous. Do it because you love writing. It’s extremely rewarding to get published, but getting to point of making money is a constant process that takes many years (unless you are lucky of course!).

 J.A.: Social media is a time killer. You need an online presence if you want to be a commercial writer, but it’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole. A few minutes turns into several wasted hours that could have been spent writing. The same for research. Use both with restraint.

Many thanks to Mollie Cox Bryan, Lynn Cahoon, Kristin Kisska, Maggie King, Genilee Swope Parente, and JA Chalkley for the interview!

AUTHORS

Mollie Cox Bryan is the author of cookbooks, articles, essays, poetry, and fiction.  An Agatha Award nominee, she lives in Central Virginia.  www.molliecoxbryan.com

 Lynn Cahoon is the NYT and USA Today author of the best-selling Tourist Trap, Cat Latimer and Farm-to-Fork mystery series. www.lynncahoon.com

 J. A. Chalkley is a native Virginian. She is a writer, retired public safety communications officer, and a member of Sisters in Crime.

 Maggie King penned the Hazel Rose Book Group mysteries. Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries and 50 Shades of Cabernet anthologies. www.maggieking.com

 Kristin Kisska is a member of International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime, and programs chair of the Sisters in Crime – Central Virginia chapter. www.kristinkisska.com

 Genilee Swope Parente has written the romantic mystery The Fate Series with her mother F. Sharon Swope. The two also have several collections of short stories. www.swopeparente.com

 Heather Weidner is the author of the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries.  She has short stories in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 SHADES OF CABERNET and TO FETCH A THIEF.  She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and Jack Russell terriers.  www.heatherweidner.com

BOOK LINKS

Wildside

Wildside eBook

Amazon

Why Collaborators Need a Style Guide - Advice for Writers

Years ago, I hired a technical writer at my day gig, and we quickly realized we needed a style guide to define how we do certain things. We had a division called Multifamily, and the title appeared as "Multifamily," "MultiFamily," "Multi-family," and "multi-family" in our technical manuals. Consistency was important, so we created some definitions of how things were going to be used. 

I use the Chicago Manual of Style as my reference guide, but others prefer the AP or the MLA guides. 

If you're creating a collaborative work such as an anthology or collection of stories, a style guide will save a lot of time and headaches during editing. It will also stop a lot of arguments about who is right and who isn't. And it's also a good idea if you give the contributors the guide during the writing phase.

Here are examples of things you should include:

• Specify how you want the submissions formatted (e.g. spacing, font type, font size, etc.)
• Decide how you want paragraphs indented. Some folks use the tab key, while others use the margin/first line indent feature on their word processor.
• How are you going to define story or scene breaks? Do you want the author to use symbols (e.g. ###) centered on a line?
• How do you feel about the Oxford or serial comma? (e.g I'm bringing apples, peaches, and grapes to the picnic.) I'm #TeamOxfordComma.
• Define how the dialogue tags or attributes appear. Example:
  • "Go away!" said Fred.
  • "Go away!" Fred said (preferred)
• Italicize names of movies, TV shows, magazines, and books.
• Are you going to use the American or British spelling of words? (e.g. canceled or cancelled)
• Is it T-shirt, t-shirt, tshirt? What about Ok, OK, or Okay? TV, t.v., or tv?
• Use All Right and A Lot. Both are two words.

Start with some standard guidelines and then add ones that are important to the group. Remember that many publishers and editors have their own style guides, so more changes could come in the final editing stages.

I keep a style guide for myself too when I'm writing my novels, so that I am consistent between the books in a series. 

What else would you include in your style guide?

50 Shades of Cabernet

I am excited to be a part of the 50 Shades of Cabernet mystery anthology with such a talented group of authors. My partners in crime are Barb Goffman, Teresa Inge, Kristin Kisska, Jayne Ormerod, Maria Hudgins, Lyn Brittan, Douglas Lutz, Alan Orloff, Debbiann Holmes, Betsy Ashton, James M. Jackson & Tina Whittle, Maggie King, Nancy Naigle, Rosemary Shomaker, Jenny Sparks, and Ken Wingate.

In my story, "Par for the Course," Mona McKinley Scarborough, the family matriarch doesn't take no for an answer. When she's not successful at convincing her granddaughter Amanda to make the right career choice - to join the family's winery, she plans a golf outing as a chance to draw them closer together. Their chat reveals some deadly secret, and they learn that the grape may not fall far from the vine.

The Scarborough family, who can trace their roots back to Jamestown, Virginia and the colonists, has been a fixture in Richmond's capital society for more years than anyone can count. Their roots and dirty little secrets run deep. I like my mysteries to have lots of twists and turns, and "Par for the Course" takes on several meanings throughout the tale, where we learn that some family secrets are as dark as the cabernet.

The anthology is available at your favorite bookseller. It's a fun book club or beach read, especially paired with your favorite wine.