I’d like to welcome mystery author, Grace Topping, to the blog today for #ThisorThatThursday.
Things you need for your writing sessions:
The main thing I need most is quiet. I’m not one of those writers who can work in a coffee shop or put on background music. I’m easily distracted and will use any excuse to stop working. Something as simple as hearing the dryer signal will have me dashing to fold clothes.
Things that hamper your writing:
Hunger! When I start to fidget and have a hard time focusing, invariably I’ll look at the clock and realize it’s near a mealtime. I know I’m not going to make progress until after I’ve eaten. I don’t keep snacks in my office, so that means I have to go prepare something to eat, which also gives me a break from writing and sitting.
Things you love about writing:
I love creating characters to fit into my story. Most times they pop into my head fully formed, and I marvel about where they came from. Some writers talk about taking characteristics from multiple people and combining them to create a character, but I’ve never done that. Perhaps I should give it a try. I’d be
afraid someone I know would recognize themselves in one of my characters.
Things you hate about writing:
Proofreading. Before I retired I worked as a writer-editor, so proofreading wasn’t something new to me. But even with that experience, invariably I’ll miss something, no matter how many times I proofread it. Reading your own work is a challenge because you see what you expect to see. I’m much better proofreading someone else’s work.
Hardest thing about being a writer:
For me, one of the hardest things is juggling the time needed for writing, promoting, and everyday life. I had no idea how much time I would need to devote to promoting a book once I had written it. It’s fun, but it’s also time-consuming—not leaving much time to actually write.
Easiest thing about being a writer:
I had to think long and hard about that since these days, nothing about being a writer seems particularly easy. But if I had to pick an easy thing, I would have to say talking to people who have read my book and want to discuss it, especially at book club meetings. They are so enthusiastic about the book and pleased that they are getting to meet the author and can ask questions. Sometimes they see more in a story that I’ve written than I had considered.
Favorite foods:
Unfortunately, salty, crunchy foods like potato or corn chips. If we have them in the house, they virtually call to me. So I’ve learned not to buy them. I told my husband that if he buys them, he has to hide them; otherwise, I’ll wear out the carpet walking back and forth between the family room and the pantry getting another
handful.
Things that make you want to gag:
Bananas. I can pretty much eat most things (except perhaps exotic food), but I have never cared for bananas. With so many other things to eat, I don’t miss them.
Favorite music or song:
I enjoy both classic rock and classical music. However, since I usually listen to audiobooks, I rarely listen to music these days. Proud Mary by Creedence Clearwater Revival is among my favorite songs. If I were on my deathbed and heard it playing, I would probably get up and dance to it.
Music that drives you crazy:
Modern jazz and rap.
Something you wish you could do:
I wish I could memorize long passages. Sadly, I am not good at it all, so I could never be an actor. I wouldn’t be able to memorize all my lines. Short ones, but not long ones. In second grade the teacher selected me to read a passage for a school holiday production—reciting something about the holly and the berry. I was so distressed, she gave me one line instead: “When does the party begin.” That I could handle.
Something you wish you’d never learned to do:
When I first started working (a thousand years ago), I wished I’d never learned to type. Every time I attended a meeting, because I could type, I was always called upon to record and type the minutes of the meeting.
Things you always put in your books:
Pets. A good number of cozy readers love reading about pets in the books they read. Before I was published, I was at Malice Domestic, a mystery conference, where a fan asked me about my work in progress. She specifically wanted to know if I had any cats in it. When I said no, she turned abruptly and walked away. You can be sure that night I went home and added a cat to my manuscript. Since I don’t own a pet, it was a challenge remembering to have my main character caring for her black cat, Inky. Otherwise you get letters from readers asking how your main character could have gone away for days and not provided for her pet.
Things you never put in your books:
I write cozy mysteries because of the things cozy authors leave out—violence, sex, and bad language. So I never put them in my books. I also read for pleasure and escapism, so I don’t put anything in my books that a
cozy reader would find off-putting, like cruelty.
Things to say to an author:
I loved your book.
Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book:
I read your little book. To me the term little is condescending and means the person feels something has little merit.
Favorite places you’ve been:
My husband and I have been very fortunate to travel extensively around the world and to some remote places such as Easter Island, Pitcairn, Cape Horn, and South Africa. The one place I was absolutely thrilled to visit was the ancient city of Petra in Jordan. As a child, I saw a photo on a magazine cover of the iconic treasury building at the entrance of the city, and I yearned to travel there, but thinking I wouldn’t get there in a million years. Standing at the entrance brought tears to my eyes. Machu Picchu is still on my bucket list.
Places you never want to go to again:
During our travels, we have enjoyed some places more than others, but I don’t think there is a place that I would never want to visit again. Some experiences when traveling are great; some are not. One thing I wouldn’t want to experience again was contracting Norovirus, which I’ve experienced when traveling. Don’t ever, ever put your room cardkey in your mouth to hold it. Never.
Favorite books (or genre):
I tend to favor both cozy and historical mysteries. I like books that are intriguing and present a puzzle but lack violence. I want to be entertained not horrified.
Books you wouldn’t buy:
Erotica, sci-fi, and thrillers. I used to say Westerns, but I recently read a mystery set in the Wild West. The title, Holmes on the Range, by Steve Hockensmith, caught my eye because of the connection to Sherlock Holmes. It was a great concept of having a Holmes-like character who is a cowhand. So you never know what type of book is going to appeal to you until you try it.
Most daring thing you’ve ever done:
Probably the most daring thing I did was to leave home and join the Navy. It was really daring in that I didn’t fully know what to expect and whether I would like it. It was something I had always wanted to do, especially coming from a family with many military and naval veterans, but there was still that element of the unknown. It was a wonderful experience and definitely helped shape my life.
Something you chickened out from doing:
I don’t know that I’ve ever chickened out of doing something—more than likely because I probably wouldn’t have entertained doing something that would make me reconsider. I’m not into life-threatening things like skydiving, mountain climbing, or caving. I don’t even go on rollercoasters. I probably would have chickened out of those things if I had been crazy enough to contemplate them.
Some writers chicken out of ever showing their writing to anyone because of their fear of being criticized or laughed at. Sadly they never get published, regardless of how good their work may be. It takes a certain amount of bravery to put your work out there for others to read. I’m glad I didn’t chicken out.
About Grace:
Grace Topping is a recovering technical writer and IT project manager, accustomed to writing lean, boring documents. Let loose to write fiction, she is now creating murder mysteries and killing off characters who remind her of some of the people she dealt with during her career. Fictional revenge is sweet. She’s using her experience helping friends stage their homes for sale as inspiration for her Laura Bishop mystery series. The series is about a woman starting a new career midlife as a home stager. The
first book in the series, Staging is Murder, is a 2019 Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel. Grace is the former vice president of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime, and a member of the SINC Guppies and Mystery Writers of America. She lives with her husband in Northern Virginia.
