#WriterWednesday Interview with Bill Hemmig

I’d like to welcome author Bill Hemmig to the blog for #WriterWedneday.

A few of your favorite things: oysters on the half shell, red wine, popcorn, cats.

Things you need to throw out: amaryllises that have given up blooming (not to be thrown out—to be given to a friend who has family in Florida, where they’ll be planted outdoors and thrive); blazers I don’t like anymore (to clothing drive); ground spices that have been around for years (compost pile).

Things you need for your writing sessions: a dedicated space; a legal pad (color of paper irrelevant); Uni-Ball pens (black fine point); a handy means to do quick internet research; music inside my head.

Things that hamper your writing: music outside my head; constant typos; multi-tasking.

Things you love about writing: first drafts; research; public readings; that aha moment when I realize where I’m going next.

Things you hate about writing: persnickety revisions; self-promotion; researching places to submit to.

Favorite foods: salt and pepper grilled chicken wings; roasted okra; fried calamari; wienerschnitzel; BLTs.

Things that make you want to gag: out of season tomatoes.

Favorite music or song: Renaissance polyphony; Bach, Beethoven and Brahms; Mahler; Joni Mitchell.

Music that drives you crazy: much but not all Country; most Philip Glass.

Something you wish you could do: sew (my parents both operated sewing machines for a living, and probably for that reason I never learned how).

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: make candles (I almost burned the house down when I was about twelve years old).

Last best thing you ate: a spectacular lobster mac and cheese.

Last thing you regret eating: that expired mayonnaise in the fridge.

Things you’d walk a mile for: a great meal (and I have, literally).

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: physical therapy, the most boring activity on earth.

Things you always put in your books: cars; children; golden sections.

Things you never put in your books: motorcycles; infants; fictitious song lyrics.

Favorite places you’ve been: Venice (Italy, not CA); Vita Sackville-West’s Sissinghurst; Granada; Rincon, Puerto Rico.

Places you never want to go to again: Dallas (sorry, Dallas); Anaheim, CA; the Key West Airport.

Favorite books (or genre): Orlando, Mrs. Dalloway (both Virginia Woolf); The Magic Mountain (Thomas Mann); The Bridge of San Luis Rey (Thornton Wilder); Mastering the Art of French Cooking (Julia Child, et al.).

Books you wouldn’t buy: A thousand apologies, but the Harry Potter books have no appeal for me.

Best thing you’ve ever done: Made myself chief caregiver for my ex when he way dying.

Biggest mistake: See my response to “Something you wish you’d never learned to do.”

About Bill:

Bill Hemmig is the author of Americana: Stories and Brethren Hollow, both published by Read Furiously. His short stories appear in Read Furiously’s Life in the Garden State anthologies, The World Takes and Stay Salty.  He has had stories published in the journals The Madison Review, Philadelphia Stories, Pink Disco, BarBar, and Children, Churches and Daddies (cc&d), and he is a three-time finalist in the New Millennium Writing Awards. He is a native of Reading, PA and now lives in Bucks County.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: https://www.bucksarts.org/bill-hemmig/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bill.hemmig/

Twitter: @Bill Hemmig 

Instagram: @Bill Hemmig 

#WriterWednesday Interview with Katherine Hayes

I’d like to welcome Katherine Hayes to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Things you never want to run out of: I never want to run out of friends and family members to love, engage with, and do life with.

Things you wish you’d never bought: I wish I’d never bought black licorice. I thought I would like it because of the delightful smell, but I wouldn’t say I like the taste.

The hardest thing about being a writer is that it’s challenging to make a living strictly from writing. It’s also hard to balance the business and marketing of being a writer.

Easiest thing about being a writer: The easiest thing about being a writer is being able to write all the stories, ideas, and worlds I’ve created in my mind.

Things you need for your writing sessions: I need candles, delicious snacks, the fitting soundtrack, caffeine, my fur babies, and my laptop. But I’ll settle for my notebook and pen if these things aren't available.

Things that hamper your writing: I’m hampered by clutter, an untidy space, and too many outside distractions.

A few of your favorite things: I love God, my husband, my children, my grandson, short lines, lattes, spicy food, and gatherings at my home with uplifting music, good food, and laughter. I adore animals, children, and traveling with friends and family.

Things you need to throw out: I despise clutter but desperately need to clean my junk drawers where I shove too many random things.

Words that describe you: Vibrant, eclectic, artistic, hospitable, and vivacious.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Procrastinator (especially if something is important to me) and sometimes tardy. Ugh!

Favorite foods: I love Jamaican food, especially curry chicken, curried shrimp, jerk pork, and ackee and saltfish. I also love authentic Korean, Italian, and Mexican.

Things that make you want to gag: Mean people, untidiness, rhubarb, and liver make me want to gag.

Something you’re really good at: I’m good at painting (as in pictures), cooking, teaching, and mentoring.

Something you’re really bad at math and laundry. Thankfully, my husband is my accountant and prefers doing the laundry in exchange for great meals and a clean house.

Favorite music or song: My favorite types of music are reggae, jazz, classical piano, gospel, contemporary worship, and Afro-beats. My favorite song is Don’t Worry About A Thing” by Bob Marley.

Music that drives you crazy: Heavy metal and most country music.

Favorite smells: Lavender, jasmine, and the farm. The farm is nostalgic for me, as my grandparents lived on one.

Something that makes you hold your nose: locker rooms and bad breath.

Last best thing you ate: Ackee and saltfish with johnny cakes.

Last thing you regret eating: Bad sushi.

Things you always put in your books: Hope and hidden references to things and people only a few close friends and family members would know about.

Things you never put in your books: Hopelessness.

The funniest thing to happen to you: When I was still a school principal, I brought Tony, my then fiancé (now husband), to our annual Christmas party. When I returned from a visit to the bathroom, Tony had the group of teachers he was surrounded by in stitches. I soon found out he jokingly told everyone we’d met while I was in a bookstore in the self-help section, reading a book, “How to Get a Man.” The staff believed him.

The most embarrassing thing to happen to you: I tripped while on a treadmill in a crowded gym. It happened so fast that I grabbed onto the bottom sides of the equipment, where my clothing got tangled. I mooned the entire gym.

About Katherine:

Author, speaker, educational consultant, and editor–Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes, Ed. D. has had her hand in leadership for many years. She loves speaking to groups and delivering messages with a quick wit and real-life stories. Katherine is a freelance writer/content editor, a content editor/writing coach for Iron Stream Media, and a sensitivity reader for Sensitivity Between the Lines. She is a review board member and contributor to Inkspirations (an online magazine for Christian writers), and her writing has been published in Guideposts. Her work in art/writing is distinguished by awards, including the New York Mayor’s Contribution to the Arts, Outstanding Resident Artist of Arizona, and the Foundations Awards at the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writer’s Conference (2016, 2019, 2021). She is a member of Word Weavers International and serves as an online chapter president and mentor. She belongs to FWA (Florida Writers Association), ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers), CWoC (Crime Writers of Color), AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association), and AASA (American Association of School Administrators). She serves on the board of the nonprofit organization Submersion 14 and is an art instructor for the nonprofit organization Light for the Future. Katherine hosts the podcast Murder, Mystery & Mayhem Laced with Morality. She has authored a Christian Bible study for women and is currently working on the sequel to her first general market thriller novel.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: https://www.drkatherinehayes.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/khutch0767

Personal Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/katherine.hutchinsonhayes

Author Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authordrkatherinehayes/

Books:   https://www.amazon.com/Gods-Little-Black-Dress-Women/dp/1365056163  

LinkedIn:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-katherine-hutchinson-hayes-3b5a3254/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.kathy.hayes/

Podcast (Apple): https://podcastsconnect.apple.com/my-podcasts/show/murder-mysterymayhem-laced-with-morality/ade5f5bb-6cbf-4722-a421-9874b24fa49d

Podcast (Spotify): https://open.spotify.com/show/4zWmZckdnPsYG9CUAKkv1p

#WriterWednesday Interview with Mark Morton

I’d like to welcome Mark Morton to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

A few of your favorite things: I love amber: the warmth of its translucent color, the way it forms over eons from tree resin, the bits of leaves and even tiny insects that it often contains. When my wife and I got married, I gave her a piece of amber I found as a child on the grain farm where I grew up; I had a jeweler drill a hole into it and made it into a necklace for her. If I could only take one thing from our house, that would be it!

Things you need to throw out: Nothing! Our house is full of “artifacts”: little wooden boxes, curious stones we’ve found, vintage items like a rotary phone, a sewing machine from 1910 that belonged to my grandmother, antique coins, pocket watches, carvings—all of them embody a memory, and I couldn’t let any of them go. (However, we do, I guess, have a lot of half-chewed dog toys I could cull!)

Things you need for your writing sessions: A bit of ambient hubbub—I can’t write if it’s too quiet. Our dog Myah curled up behind my head on the top of my armchair. A glass of my home-made ginger beer.

Things that hamper your writing: Fatigue from lack of sleep; interruptions; worrying about existential threats like climate change, the possibility of new pandemics, the escalation and continuance of wars and conflicts.

Things you love about writing: I love how characters organically “emerge” as I’m writing—it’s as if they reveal themselves to me in a way I could never have intentionally imagined, like pulling treasure up from the bottom of a deep lake.

Things you hate about writing: I can’t think of a single thing—I enjoy all aspects of the writing process—even realizing that I need to rewrite a section of a manuscript is something I appreciate. Writing is a privilege that most people in the world don’t have—so who am I to complain about any part of it!

Hardest thing about being a writer: Finding time is of course always a challenge, as I so far have not been able to persuade an 18th-century patron to pay my bills. Also, as I grow older, my memory is not what it used to be: holding many plot elements in my head at the same time has become more challenging.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Thanks to tools like ChatGPT, finding peculiar facts and needed answers to obscure questions has become much easier! But at the same time, I have a genuine fear of where AI will take us as a species (see existential threats, above!).

Things you never want to run out of: Wonder; love; dogs.

Things you wish you’d never bought: A pound of steamed mussels still in their shells—one of them must have been off… it didn’t end well!

Favorite music or song: So many songs by Alison Goldfrapp (e.g., Black Cherry), John Prine (e.g., Angel from Montgomery), and The Tragically Hip (e.g. Ahead by a Century). That latter group is perhaps Canada’s “national rock band.”

Music that drives you crazy: Avant garde jazz—I just can’t enjoy anything that goes beep bop squawk.

Something you’re really good at: Mental compartmentalization.

Something you’re really bad at: Recognizing faces (I have prosopagnosia: face blindness—it’s harmless except that it often results in embarrassing mix ups and also makes it harder to follow movies).

Something you wish you could do: Forget certain memories—and not necessarily bad ones. Sometimes a good memory can remain so vivid that it becomes hard to assimilate into the past.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Troubleshoot other people’s computers.

Something you like to do: Watch educational YouTube series: Smarter Every Day, Vsauce, Veritasium, Philosophy Tube, ContraPoints, Up and Atom. Also, short films on YouTube channels such as Dust and Omeleto.

Something you wish you’d never done: Eaten an entire large cinnamon bun while completing these questions.

Favorite place you’ve been: Manitoulin Island—the largest freshwater island in the world. My wife’s mom has a cabin there. No electricity, no plumbing, but it has a river right behind it with salmon in it and the shore of Lake Huron is just a four-minute walk away. A remote and magical place.

Places you never want to go to again: Houston, Texas (see steamed mussels, above!).

Favorite books: Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel; Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist; The Road and Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy; the complete set of the Oxford English Dictionary.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Cooking with Spam. The Collected Blondie and Dagwood. Intelligent Design for Dummies. Curious George and the Electric Fence. Bigger and Better Boners (not what one might think!).

Best thing you’ve ever done: Adopting our four kids.

Biggest mistake: Not taking my mom up on her offer to pay for music lessons when I was ten. (Wait, did I get the answers to these two questions mixed up?)

About Mark:

Mark Morton, author of The Headmasters and Cupboard Love: A Dictionary of Culinary Curiosities (nominated for a Julia Child Award), is also the author of three other nonfiction titles, The End: Closing Words for a Millennium (winner of the Alexander Isbister Award for nonfiction); The Lover’s Tongue: A Merry Romp Through the Language of Love and Sex (republished in the UK as Dirty Words), and Cooking with Shakespeare. He’s also written more than 50 columns for Gastronomica: The Journal of Food and Culture (University of California Press) and has written and broadcast more than a hundred columns about language and culture for Canada’s national radio, CBC Radio One. Mark has a PhD in sixteenth-century literature from the University of Toronto and has taught at several universities in France and Canada.

Let’s Be Social:

• Website: www.markmorton.ca

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.morton.author

• X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/NotromKram

• Publisher’s website: https://shadowpawpress.com/

#WriterWednesday Interview with S. Atzeni

It’s the middle of February here in North America, and my guest today, S. Atzeni, is going to mix it up and bring us a taste of summer. Welcome to the blog!

A few of your favorite summer traditions: My favorite summer tradition is summer reading. I look forward to it every year by building my reading list and carving out time in my schedule. Since I was a kid, we’ve always gone to the library to get our summer reading books, so I like to keep that tradition alive and visit my local library for each book.

Something summer-related that you’ll never do again: I hate the beach (I know - an unpopular opinion!). I like the boardwalk and the arcade - I just don’t see a point in sitting on the beach or swimming in the ocean. It’s pretty to look at, but not something I seek out during the summer months.

Favorite summer beverage: An iced cappuccino - it’s refreshing and I love the cold foam on top!

A drink that gives you a pickle face: Anything too sugary! It doesn’t help in the Jersey heat.

Your favorite thing to get from the ice cream truck: Vanilla and chocolate ice cream in a dixie cup. Bonus points if there’s a wooden spoon included.

Some dessert that you wish you’d never bought: I used to get those ice cream pops that looked like cartoon characters - when I was a kid, I would always get the Ninja Turtle. They didn’t taste particularly good, but who wouldn’t want ice cream in the shape of a Ninja Turtle?

Best summer vacation ever: We went to Europe one summer and it was fun traveling across the continent. Plus you learn so many new things about yourself when you travel. One thing I learned is how bad my Polish is (I’m still learning!)

Somewhere where you don’t ever want to return: On that tiny plane that took us from England to Poland - I could feel my teeth rattle the entire time we were in the air!

Most favorite place to write/edit in the summer: I have a spot in my local library that I’ve been using for years. Nothing is more satisfying than being in an air-conditioned library writing away when it’s really hot outside. Plus it’s so quiet that I get a lot of work done.

The worst place to try to write in the summer because of all the distractions: My house because the air conditioners in the windows create a buzz that’s really distracting. Plus my cats like to jump all over my laptop - in any season - and it’s hard to get work done.

Favorite thing to do on a summer evening: Sit outside and enjoy the summer evening. It’s so quiet at night, but also not with the crickets chirping and people outside. There’s a balance to the noise that I find really peaceful.

Least favorite thing about summer: The days that are so hot, you feel like you’re going to melt, Wicked Witch of the West-style. New Jersey summers can be really humid, which ruins the fun part of the summer weather.

Favorite place to visit in Virginia: The Torpedo Factory in Alexandria. Also, I LOVE Old Town Books on Royal Street!

Somewhere you’ve visited way too much. Been there. Done that. Got the T-shirt: No where! I love going back to old places - you can always find something new!

The thing you like most about being a writer: My absolute favorite part is holding your book when it’s all complete. Nothing about the process is very easy, but the finish line is always nice. All the hard work is worth it.

The thing you like least about being a writer: The hardest part is finding the time to write. There’s so much that fills the day and I can never find that “sweet spot” amount of time to write when I need to. It takes a lot of planning.

The thing that you will most remember about your writing life: I hope what I remember most are all of the different stories that I am privileged to write and the authors I’m privileged to work with as an editor. As an author-publisher, you get to have all of these great experiences and work with an extraordinary community. It’s a joy that I carry with me every day.

Something in your writing life that you wish you could do over: I try not to have any regrets, but one would be that I should have started sooner sharing my work. For many years, I was embarrassed or felt like I wasn’t ready to call myself a writer. Imposter syndrome is real - but I wish I ignored it and started sooner.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Once upon a time, I braved Nitro at Six Flags. I went on it twice. It was terrifying, but it makes a good fun fact.

Something you chickened out from doing: Going on a rollercoaster after the age of 35. Now it’s terrifying in a different way!

The funniest thing to happen to you: I broke my ankle once at a BBQ while trying to sing like Shania Twain.

The most embarrassing thing to happen to you: I broke my ankle once at a BBQ while trying to sing like Shania Twain. I feel like there’s a story here.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: “Your book made me laugh” - that is the greatest compliment and it makes me feel as though I’m doing something right.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: “It’s interesting that your play is a metaphor for God” - to this day, I have no idea where they got that out of a play about a diner, but thanks to that person for thinking I’m smart enough to pull that off.

About S. Atzeni:

S. Atzeni (she/they) is a multi-genre, award-winning writer of prose, comics, and academic scholarship. They are the co-author of The MOTHER Principle graphic novel series and The Legend of Dave Bradley and the upcoming W(h)ine and Cheese in the One 'n Done series. S. Atzeni holds a B.A. in Professional Writing and Journalism and a Master of Arts in English from The College of New Jersey.

When not being an adjunct professor and academic of ethnography, sequential art studies, and trauma theory, S. Atzeni is the co-founder of Read Furiously Publishing, its editorial director and its head of acquisitions. Through Read Furiously, S. Atzeni is proud to publish great books, be a part of an amazing independent literary community, and participate in literary activism.

Let’s Be Social:

http://Smatzeni.com

http://Readfuriously.com

instagram.com/smatzeni

https://www.facebook.com/ReadFuriously

#WriterWednesdayInterview with Sue Minix

I’d like to welcome the fabulous Sue Minix back to the blog to talk about some of her favorite (and not so favorite) things for #WriterWedneday!

Favorite thing to do when you have free time:

I love to read and watch movies.

The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to do list:

I hate to clean the house!

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave:

Coffee or tea depending on the time of day and my dog by my side.

Things that distract you from writing:

Whichever TV series I’m binge-watching.

Hardest thing about being a writer:

Getting the words on the screen.

Easiest thing about being a writer:

Making up the story.

Favorite snacks:

Chocolate, ice cream, and cookies.

Things that make you want to gag:

Rare steak.

Something you’re really good at:

Procrastinating!

Something you’re really bad at:

Writing on a schedule.

Favorite things to do:

Read, watch TV, watch movies, go hiking with my dog.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing:

Clean the house, go to a party, make a video starring me.

The most exciting thing about your writing life:

Seeing my books in a bookstore.

The one thing you wish you could do over in your writing life:

I wouldn’t quit writing every time someone didn’t fawn over my work.

The nicest thing a reader said to you:

I love this series! I can’t wait for the next book to come out.

The craziest thing a reader said to you:

You’re pigeonholing women by calling the librarian character’s dress a “librarian frock.”

Best piece of advice you received from another writer:

Your dialogue is stilted. Try to make it more natural.

Something you would tell a younger you about your writing:

Don’t quit!!!

Recommendations for curing writer’s block:

Read books in your genre. They can trigger ideas you can use in your own work.

Things you do to avoid writing:

Read and watch TV.

About Sue:

Sue is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and the Crime Writer's Association. When she isn't writing, you can find her reading, watching old movies, or hiking the New Mexico desert with her furry best friend.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: www.sueminixauthor.com

Facebook, Instagram, Threads: sueminixauthor.com

#WriterWednesday Interview with Sarah E. Burr

I’d like to welcome my friend and talented author, Sarah E. Burr, back to the blog for #WriterWednesday.

Favorite thing to do when you have free time: I enjoy reading manga, watching true crime shows, listening to true crime podcasts, and video gaming.

The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to-do list: I really despise grocery shopping for some reason. It’s such a chore for me.

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave: For a productive day of writing, I require a beverage, a candle, my dog, Eevee, and my computer.

Things that distract you from writing: I always get sidetracked by social media (YouTube videos, especially) and laundry.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Writing the first three chapters of a new book is the hardest part of any writing project.

Easiest thing about being a writer: I have no trouble coming up with people to kill off!

The coolest thing you’ve bought online: I am obsessed with my new wax warmer.

The thing you wished you’d never bought: I have no shopping regrets! Everything has its purpose.

Something you’re really good at: I’m great at designing book-related content for social media.

Something you’re really bad at: I’m terrible at anything remotely athletic.

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: I wanted to be a detective or FBI agent.

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: I never dreamed I would actually get to write amateur detective stories for a living.

Something you wish you could do: I wish I could speak more than one basic language.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: I wish I had never learned to suck on my teeth—it’s a horrible habit that I can’t stop after doing the Invisalign treatment.

Favorite places you’ve been: I loved my adventures in London, England, on a Nile cruise, and in Athens, Greece.

Places you never want to go to again: I mean, I hate going to the dentist, but we do what we must!

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: I did a massive zip-lining course in Jamacia.

Something you chickened out from doing: I refused to drive a convertible along California’s coastal highway (I ended up just being the passenger).

The most exciting thing about your writing life: I get to visit so many incredible places and people with all the different series I write.

The one thing you wish you could do over in your writing life: I would have used more pen names for all my different series!

Best piece of advice you received from another writer: A guest on The Bookish Hour told us that even if you aren’t actively writing, you are still “writing” because you are always thinking about your work. That advice has helped me to cut myself some slack and take more restful breaks.

Something you would tell a younger you about your writing: Be kind to yourself. You’re doing the best you can.

About Sarah:

Sarah E. Burr is the award-winning author of the Glenmyre Whim Mysteries, Trending Topic Mysteries, the Book Blogger Mysteries, and the Court of Mystery series. She currently serves as the social media manager for the New York chapter of Sisters in Crime and is the creative mind behind BookstaBundles, a content creation service for authors. Sarah is the co-host of The Bookish Hour, a live-streamed YouTube series featuring author interviews and book discussions. When she's not spinning up stories, Sarah is binging true crime podcasts and enjoying walks with her dog, Eevee. Stay connected with Sarah via her newsletter: https://bit.ly/saraheburrsignup.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: http://saraheburr.com

Socials: https://bit.ly/sarahsocialmediahub

#WriterWednesday Interview with Gerald Elias

I’d like to welcome author and musician, Gerald Elias, to the blog!

Things you need for your writing sessions: Imagination, something to write with, coffee, and a window to stare out of when my brain goes blank.

Things that hamper your writing: Distractions, lack of ideas, no coffee, and thoughts of pastrami.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Promotion, marketing, learning how to brag about my work without sounding like I’m bragging.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Conjuring up the words –– sometimes even the right ones –– to create entertaining, occasionally thought-provoking stories.

Words that describe you: Willing to dive in, ethical, organized, hardworking.

Words that describe you, but you wish they didn’t: Rash, insistent, too goal oriented.

Favorite music or song: A Mozart piano concerto, Schubert string quintet, or a Bach violin sonata.

Music that drives you crazy: Bad Christmas music arrangements (which means just about all of the new ones), and just about anything by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Something you’re really good at: Playing music, talking at public events about music and writing, cooking (especially Italian).

Something you’re really bad at: Mountain climbing. I get dizzy too easily, and it scares the crap out of me when I look down and feel like I'm going over the edge. (Gulp.)

Last best thing you ate: I slow-cooked a brisket in the oven for 6 hours. It was so tender you could cut it with a fork. I’m drooling as I write. (Let me know if you want the recipe. It's amazingly easy.)

Last thing you regret eating: That last bite of brisket, leaving my plate with nothing left on it.

Things you’d walk a mile for: Exercise, fresh air, relaxation, a nice view, and especially if there’s a beer or coffee at the end of the mile.

Things that make you want to run screaming from the room: People talking nonstop about their health issues, i.e. “the organ recital.” Also, loud music, but that would be okay if it covered up the “organ recital.”

Things you always put in your books: Quirky and engaging characters, plot twists, and humor.

Things you never put in your books: One-dimensional characters, gore, gratuitous sex, or endless details about weapons of mass destruction.

Things to say to an author: Go for it! Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite! Enjoy the journey, whatever the destination.

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: Let me at least put up a good fight while saving a damsel in distress, and then leave a nice epitaph.

Favorite books (or genre): Thrillers by John le Carré, mysteries by Walter Mosley, Donna Leon, and Dick Francis, and adventures by Patrick O’Bryan.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Books on self-help, financial advice, pseudoscience, and The Art of the Deal.

People you’d like to invite to dinner: Mozart and Fani Willis.

People you’d cancel dinner on: Anyone who says they’ll vote for Donald Trump.

Favorite things to do: Go outside, write books, play music, drink coffee, and most of all, be a hands-on grandpa.

Things you’d run through a fire or eat bugs to get out of doing: Filling out tax returns, but I don’t think the IRS will accept running through a fire or eating bugs as an excuse.

About Gerald:

Gerald Elias leads a double life as a critically acclaimed author and internationally recognized musician.

His award-winning Daniel Jacobus mystery series, beginning with Devil’s Trill, takes place in the dark corners of the classical music world. Murder at the Royal Albert, the eighth and most recent installment of the series, was described as a “clever, pacey entry” by Publisher’s Weekly. The audiobook version, featuring excerpts of live performances by the Boston Symphony and the author himself, received praised from AudioFile Magazine “as an altogether delightful listen.”

Elias has also penned two standalone novels: The Beethoven Sequence, a chilling political thriller, and Roundtree Days, a Jefferson Dance Western Mystery, which was a 2023 Silver Falchion Award finalist. His musical memoir, Symphonies & Scorpions, was the subject of his 2019 TEDx presentation. His essays and short stories have been featured in prestigious journals ranging from The Strad magazine to Coolest American Stories 2023. He has just signed a new deal with Level Best Books for two new mysteries, Murder on Vacation and Wild Horses.

A former violinist with the Boston Symphony and associate concertmaster of the Utah Symphony, Elias has performed on five continents and has been the conductor of Salt Lake City’s popular Vivaldi by Candlelight chamber orchestra series since 2004. In 2022, he released a groundbreaking recording of the Opus 1 violin sonatas of the Baroque virtuoso-composer, Pietro Castrucci, on Centaur Records.

Elias divides his time between his home on the shores of Puget Sound in Seattle and his cottage in the Berkshire hills of Massachusetts, savoring the outdoors and maintaining a vibrant concert career while continuing to expand his literary horizons. He particularly enjoys winter, coffee, cooking, travel, watching sports, and being a hands-on grandpa.

Let’s Be Social:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gerald.elias

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EliasBooks/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/geraldelias504/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gerald-elias-6a67a0157/

Website: www.mysteriesandmusic.com

#WriterWednesday Interview with W. L. Hawkin

I’d like to welcome author W. L. Hawkin to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Favorite thing that you always make time for: reading a good book

The thing you’ll always do just about anything to avoid: reading a contract or procedure

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave: silence so I can hear my voices

Things that distract you from writing: noise and activity

The thing you like most about being a writer: I’m never bored.

The thing you like least about being a writer: Having to sell books.

Things you will run to the store for in the middle of the night: toilet paper

Things you never put on your shopping list: tempeh (made from fermented soy beans. Bleh)

The coolest thing you’ve bought online: a case of my own books

The thing you wished you’d never bought. A vinyl canopy cover that came without a stand and could not be returned

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: a veterinarian

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: teach a classroom full of people. I thought I’d die the first time I had to do this.

The funniest thing to happen to you: I was playing fake baseball on a diamond with my daughter and our border collie. She fake-pitched. I fake-hit and ran full tilt toward first base. The border collie ran in front of me and hit me and I face-planted in the dirt. I thought she was going to die laughing while I was trying to pick dirt out of my nose.

The most embarrassing thing to happen to you: I stood beside a man flashing himself at the fourth level elevator parking at Toronto Pearson Airport. I didn’t notice until I got in the elevator that IT was out. Then I tried to report him.

The coolest person you’ve ever met: Alan Thicke (I sang with him on a beach in Jamaica.)

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: Valerie Harper (Rhoda from the Mary Tyler Moore show.) I weighed about 100 pounds and she was tinier that I me.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: My husband started reading again after your first book. Now he wants the rest of the series.

The craziest thing a reader said to you: How do you get away with writing LGBTQ books? My reply: What are you asking me?

The best job you ever had: Aboriginal Education Coordinator

The worst job you ever had: Aboriginal Education Coordinator

The one thing you cook/bake that is better than a restaurant dish: Indian Spiced Rice with Red Lentil Dahl

The one thing you cooked/baked that turned out to be an epic disaster: a cod chowder (yuk)

About W. L.:

W. L. Hawkin writes the kind of books she loves to read from her home in the Pacific Northwest. Because she’s a genre-blender, you might find crime, mystery, romance, suspense, fantasy, adventure, and even time travel, interwoven in her stories.

If you like “myth, magic, and mayhem” her Hollystone Mysteries feature a coven of West Coast witches who solve murders using ritual magic and a little help from the gods. The books—To Charm a Killer, To Sleep with Stones, To Render a Raven, To Kill a King, and To Dance with Destiny—follow Estrada, a free-spirited, bisexual magician and coven high priest as he endeavors to save his family and friends while sorting through his own personal issues.

Her standalone novel, Lure: Jesse & Hawk (2022) won a National Indie Excellence Award, a Gold Reader’s Choice award from Connections E-magazine, a Crowned Heart Review from InD’tale Magazine, and placed as a finalist in The UK Wishing Shelf Book Awards. Lure is a small-town romantic suspense story set on a Chippewa Reservation in the American Midwest near the fictional town of Lure River.

As an intuitive writer, Wendy captures what she sees and hears on the page, and allows her muses to guide her through the creative process. In an upcoming book, Writing with your Muse: a Guide to Creative Inspiration, she explains her writing process and offers tips and techniques to help writers get their words on the page.