One Last Post

Much has happened since my last post. My son’s ship got nuked in Japan—thanks to our wonderful present administration, who does not seem to know how to give an order to move a ship out of danger!

Fortunately, my son is now home. Unfortunately—as with so many vets—he has no prospect of a job. He went to college for one semester, but had to clean out his savings to do so, as again the present administration failed him.

Do I seem bitter? When it comes to my children, I lose all sense of decorum, when they are harmed or affected in an adverse manner.

All I know is that my life came to a screeching halt on March 11, 2011 and I have just begun to live again.

I’m tying up loose ends and dissolving “A Writer’s Room”, is one of those loose ends.

I let stress take over my life and it actually almost killed me. God has seen fit to give me a second chance and I am altering all aspects of my life, including my career.

To my past clients, thank you for your patronage and to everyone else, I wish for you a prosperous and healthy new year!

Writing Service

A Day of Rest?

I was always taught that Sunday was a day of rest. I never recall resting.  We all rushed around like a bunch of lunatics on Sundays.

All of the men in my family were clerics. My uncle had three churches to preach at every Sunday morning. By afternoon, he looked like someone had attacked him, but he had lunch, laid on the couch in his office for about 20 minutes and then he was off to the races again! He spent every Sunday afternoon, visiting the sick. Then he came home, ate supper and scurried off to the main church for Sunday evening service.

It never failed to amaze me when a minister would tell you that it was a sin to work on the Sabbath. Just what in blue blazes were they doing? I’m pretty sure that preaching was listed somewhere in their job description!

And what about nurses, firemen, police officers…What would happen if they were told by their minister that they were going to hell for working on Sunday? Where would that leave the rest of us that depend on those people being there when you need them?

Of course, if memory serves me, when I was growing up, everything was a sin! Those people made me a nervous wreck! Then there was my British grandmother who always seemed to be watching.  Her brilliant advice was that if I was enjoying myself to cease and desist immediately, because that was a sure sign that I was doing something that I shouldn’t be doing! “Cease” means stop and “desist” means don’t ever do it again or you could face legal action, but grandmother meant you could face the wrath of God or worse, the wrath of her!

Happy Sunday!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

What exactly is a “Cozy”? Part Two – Rules of Writing a Cozy

The basic guidelines, for writing any cozy—British or American—are the same.

1.  No strong or abusive language

2.  No sexual content

3.  No gory murder details

Simply put, a cozy is an “easy read”. It’s something that can be read at bedtime, without fear of having nightmares later.

In my editor’s words, a cozy is defined as, “a genre primarily based on the lack of rough language or explicit sex, where the violence generally occurs offstage.” I think that’s an accurate description.

Yes, it does fall into the category of a murder mystery. And yes, there is a dead body. But, in a cozy, one doesn’t dwell on how the person became a corpse. Rather, one tries to figure out who did it and why.

Usually in a cozy, the crime is solved by an amateur detective, or a bumbling police officer. Of course, appearances can be deceiving and they always get their man…or woman. The TV series Columbo, played by Peter Falk, was a perfect example of a this. I don’t ever recall Columbo properly interviewing a suspect at the police station. He gleaned information by following them around and annoying the heck out of them. The suspect would think that they were finally rid of him and he would appear back out of nowhere and say, “Just one more thing…”.

The murder is solved by examining the characters in the story, rather than by examining the body too closely. A small amount of forensics might come into play, but generally, it is the psychological profile (although it is not called that) of each suspect, that ultimately brings about the solution to the murder.

Oft times, other crimes are committed, which are sometimes tied into the murder, but just as often, they turn out to be a *red herring. (*false clue-something to distract you from the facts)

The majority of cozies are part of a series. The reader feels connected to the people and the town. They come to know them, as if they were their own next door neighbor.

For a brief moment in time, readers live vicariously through the books that they read, so I believe that a cozy series should draw the reader back in, time after time.

I am always happy to hear your opinion. Please feel free to comment, whether you agree or disagree.

What exactly is a “Cozy”? Part One–American Cozy vs. British Cosy

This topic comes up in my email loops all the time, so I thought that it would be a good topic for discussion.

In the past, whenever I thought about reading a cozy, Dame Agatha Christie always came to mind. But I have recently discovered that American cozies are quite different from the British cosies, that I was used to enjoying, on a regular basis.

I find that the biggest difference between British and American cozies is “the hook’”. In American cozies, you are supposed to have a “hook”.

What does that mean? Well…apparently, in order to write an American cozy, you must be domestic in some form. That leaves me out! American cozies have recipes, or dress patterns, or instructions for craft projects, or gardening tips, incorporated right into their book. The list is endless, but as I have thrown hints about in previous blogs, I am not proficient in any of these areas.

So…what do I do, since I am actually working on an American cozy series? I did come up with several hooks, none of which have anything to do with being a domestic diva. When I presented those ideas to my editor, he told me I do not need a hook!

Which is it my fellow writers? Do you need a hook, or can you simply write an American cozy, as you would write any other work of fiction?

 

 

Writing

It is time to get back to the business at hand, which of course is writing.

Wouldn’t it be lovely if all a writer had to do was write? Unfortunately, in today’s world, it is more a matter of finding the time to write.

Oh…we are always writing. We are updating our status on social networks. We are writing our blogs We are answering our personal and business emails, as well as keeping up with our email loops. We are writing query letters, our synopsis, text for our websites. Yes…we are writing, writing, writing, but we are not honing in on our craft and putting all else aside, to draft our best work ever.

Is there a way around all of this hodgepodge, to find a way to just write? I am sad to say, “I think not”.

More than ever, writers are in the editing, advertising and marketing business as well. There really is no way around it.

So, my question to you writers today is, how do each of you manage to balance your personal life, with everything that is associated with being a writer in 2011?

The World In Turmoil

It’s Wednesday, the 2nd of February, 2011.  What is going on with the world? My son is deploying today and he won’t be back until spring, if then. They can’t really tell you for security purposes.

When my son enlisted, he was given some type of ribbon for joining during wartime. My son told me there will never be a time when we are not at war with somebody ever again. There are so many little wars going on that nobody knows about and that is the way it should be. Nobody, but military personnel should know about it!

It drives me nuts that the last five years of my son’s life are a complete mystery to me, but I do understand. I knew when I signed those papers for him to join over six years ago, that he would come home a different person…a complete stranger to me, but it was what he wanted and I have never stood in the way of my children’s dreams, even when those dreams drive me completely ‘round the bend!

My oldest son is talking about getting his pilot’s license. (Somebody just shoot me now. I cannot take it!) He was going to go into the service with his brother on something called the “Buddy System”. They both saw that I just could not cope. One son in a dangerous situation at a time, was all that my poor nerves could take!

I hovered over my children and every time a child would go missing, I silently blamed the parent. Then one day, I turned for just a second and my eldest was actually following behind a complete stranger at the mall. I could not believe that had happened. I took him home and spanked him…

Yes…I said I spanked him. There it is! Corporal Punishment! Spare the rod. Spoil the child and all that sort of thing! Then I sat him down and I talked to him. But not only did I reprimand him for not listening to everything I had said to him about danger, I reprimanded myself for letting him get out a my sight. I then went in the attic and dug out my old pink harness (it was winter and no one could see it under his coat) and I put it on him and I kept it on him, until I found a blue harness, on one of my ‘road trips’ (previous blog) to Philly. I kept him in that harness whenever we went out, until he started school.

If it’s any consolation to those of you out there who are appalled and wondering if the statute of limitations is up on spanking a child 30 years ago, I quit spanking. I found it to be ineffective. My son was misbehaving to get my attention! It was the long one-on-one chats that came after the spanking that he craved, so we talked.

Don’t get me wrong, when he got older, there were times when ‘talks’ became full-blown arguments, but that’s for another blog. Look… I read all the books the minute I found out I was pregnant. They was useless. I burned them in the fireplace! The only way to raise a child is through trial and error and discovering what works for each individual child.

By the time the one in the Navy came along, they had quit manufacturing children’s harnesses, so I had to go to leads. I got worse looks over that than I did the harness! Fortunately, I have never given a flying hoot what anybody thought, as long as I knew that I was doing the right thing, and from the moment I conceived my first child, that was all that I thought about and it still is. As I tell them all the time, “I do not care if you are 70 and I am 90, I will still be your mother and will still have your best interest at heart.”

Thankfully, I managed to raise my children to become productive, healthy adults, who are respectful of their elders and lead good lives. I would wish the same for every mother in the world!

To my darling son, my thoughts and prayers are with you on your deployment today.

Good Morning World

      I rarely sleep and that is still my children’s favorite saying, “Mom, you never sleep!” They are grown and long-since gone, but on the rare occasions that they come home to visit, they still mention it. Of course, my grandson has taken up the slack, in their absence.

     The way that I see it, if they were all asleep, when they were supposed to be,  how would they know that I was awake? Obviously, they have all inherited my chronic insomnia.

     I have always tried to make my kids see things in a positive light, even though I was the world’s worst pessimist. Upon reflection, I think that all I ended up doing was annoying them beyond belief.

     When the whole house was awake (when it should have been asleep), I would tell my kids that sleep was such a waste of time and that when their body needed it, they would go to sleep.

     Similarly, when something horrible happened, I would call it an adventure and try to teach my children to make the best of a bad situation.

     Over Christmas, while my son was home on leave, something happened while we were in NY. When I opened my mouth to say what I always say, he cut me off before I even got a sound out and said,”Mom, you know I love you and I don’t see you and Dad very often, but I swear by everything that’s good and holy, if you even think about using that word ‘adventure’, I will not be responsible for my actions.” He also mumbled something about how well I would fit in where he lives in CA, with those “tree-hugging hippies.”

     I’m guessing that the kids also hated my impromptu road trips. I thought it was great, showing them different places and exposing them to new cultures and ideas.  I couldn’t cook or sew (which included my inability to produce baked goods for bake sales and costumes for school plays), and I thought that what I could give them was an open mind. But, apparently,  going to sleep in a small town south of the Mason-Dixon Line and waking up in the heart of downtown Boston, across from the Common,  was something very much like torture to them…Who knew?

     I guess it has finally hit me, that I can’t protect them from life’s harsh realities anymore, like I did when they were little. They know that a person is supposed to sleep at least 4 hours every night. They also know that when something bad happens, it is not an adventure, it is something that has to be dealt with. Which brings me to today’s question:  Is truth really stranger than fiction? Should authors try to ‘sugar-coat real life scenarios? Or do people still want all the gritty details, even in this world full of trial and tribulation?

     Before you answer that, I should tell you this. I recently took a writing course. One of my assignments was to write one scene. I actually wrote verbatim from a real police report, from a cold case I had been investigating. The instructor sent it back and said that I should really try to make the cop more believable and then he proceeded to tear apart all the of real evidence. Of course, that instructor could be a dud, but it does give one pause….think about that before you answer the questions.

     I’ll leave you to it then. I hope to get some interesting comments.

K. Graf

Commenting on Comments

     I appreciate everyone’s comments. I was trying to figure out how I could comment on each individual comment, like you can on facebook.

     Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be set up for that sort of thing, so I will address each person’s comment by posting again.

     Thank you Miss Mae at:  www.missmaesite.com for your nice comments. That’s sounds like a winner if your blog is integrated with your website. I can see how the features on this are limited.

     Thanks for your input Suzie Quint and I am sure that you will be a published author soon.

     Editor at “The Dew”, I can definitely see why combining your site with fb is important. Thank you for commenting.

     Thank you Al Leverone.  I believe you are right.  A website has a purpose, but blogging is definitely more personal.

    Thank you adgray for entering a comment. Got it. You like the idea of blogs.

     Dear Ro Jordan…go for it!  Vent away! I must say that I am rather enjoying this. It’s almost like answering comments in a newspaper column. Inexpensive therapy for both of us!

     Thank you Laurel- Rain Snow, who can be found at:  http://laurelrainsnowcreations.com/default.aspx . That  is incredible…14 blogs. That must be some sort of record.

     Thank you Kat. I did indeed…fire that attorney.

     Hi navyseale.  I understand. I have lost or forgotten more passwords and usernames than most people will ever have!  In today’s world, where you have to access most of your life electronically, it just can’t be helped. I just wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your service to our country. My youngest son is a medic on an aircraft carrier.

     Thank you Merlene, who can be found on the web at:  http://merlenefawdry.blogspot.com/.  I do remember having to pay by the hour to get on the internet. much like what Verizon is soaking me now, for this netbook that I take on the road with me.

     Miss Ellis. When I clicked on your name and saw “Fall River”, my mind immediately envisioned Lizzie Borden raising her axe. Of course, then I saw WI instead of MA. Still…I’ll  bet you get that a lot, even from people who don’t write about murder for a living. So, you blog about grammar and that sort of thing. In that case, please excuse the sentence that I ended with a preposition, in a previous paragraph. Let me know when your website is launched and I’ll give you a ‘shout-out’.

     Thank you for your comments, Miss Too Sexy, who is located on the web at:  http://searchingformystar.blogspot.com  I have already checked it out readers, as have over 23,000 other people. It is about fashion, celebrities and that type of thing. Have a look for yourself.

     Thanks to everyone for your comments and to my new “followers”.

     Have a great evening!

 

K. Graf

A Writer’s Room

First Blog Attempt

     Blogging is not my thing, but I am going to give it a whirl! I suppose that a writer should be able to write anything. At least, that’s what a lawyer recently told me. I hired him to draw up a paper for me and he told me that I was the writer, draw it up myself. Then he sent me a huge bill for that bit of advice.

     As I was busy trying to figure out how to set this up today, I decided to check out what other bloggers in my town were writing about. I would have to say that about 90% of them set up their blog and then never went back to it. Perhaps they decided to use a different blog site or maybe they decided that blogging just was not for them.

     I have a question for anyone who reads this, do most of you have a website and a blog, or do you just have one or the other? One person said that they have both, because they serve very different purposes. I’d very much like to hear other people’s opinions.

     A Writer’s Room has over 4500 friends on facebook. I hope that at least some of you visit this blog and have an opinion.

     Looking forward to hearing from you!

 

K. Graf

A Writer’s Room