DIFFERENT HATS

    

    

 Brand—a mark indicating identity or ownership burned on the hide of an animal with a hot iron. A trademark or distinctive name identifying a product or a manufacturer. These are two of the definitions of brand to be found in the dictionary.

     I am a manufacturer because I produce words, form sentences, tell a story but I believe in reinvention of self and enjoy wearing different hats—I don’t have a distinctive brand. I feel fulfilled when I write non-fiction—engrossed in reality’s fascination and the revelations that research brings to a topic. The surprise of finding the unexpected, amusing, unknown.

     I’ve read mysteries since childhood—beginning with Nancy Drew; growing up I began to write them. Sometimes my tales change when a character chooses to take charge and his or her action makes sense. The cozy mystery I wrote with a little help from its characters was published by Carina Press and now I’m about to send another on its journey to seek a future in a world of readers.

     At times, I feel a play will reflect what I want to say. It calls for actors to step on-stage and bring the dialogue and the plot to life. My ideas come from everywhere. Eavesdropping, a storied past mentioned by an acquaintance, someone in the family—all tell me something I have to fictionalize. and write about while writing non-fiction brings the past to life. I can’t choose between them.

Bests,

Elise

Scene Stealer is available wherever eBooks are sold: Barnes & Noble, Amazon etc.

CLASSIC CHRISTMAS MYSTERIES

Photo by Dana Rothstein Dreamstime.com     
     "Ooh, my feet, my poor, poor feet." Do your tootsies hurt after a day spent looking for the perfect gift? Are your arms aching? Do you want to stretch out on your bed and read? It's the time of year for Christmas mysteries and many have been written by our favorite authors.
     Silent Night by Mary Higgins Clark takes place in New York when the Catherine Dornan's family comes to the city for her husband's surgery. When a light-fingered thief picks Catherine pocket, one of her sons sees and follows him into the subway and faces danger.
     Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot's Christmas begins in a locked bedroom when Simeon Lee's body is found. His throat has been slit. Will the murderer be caught by Poirot before he repeats his dastardly deed?
     Claire Mallow is present at a fete celebrating the winter soltice. One of the attendees is murdered. Will Claire find the culprit in A Holly Jolly Murder by Joan Hess?
     Charlotte Macleod's anthology titled Mistletoe Mysteries: Tales of Yuletide Murder presents stories by Marcia Muller, Isaac Asimov and a treasure trove of other prominent authors.
     In Jerusalem Inn, a Richard Jury mystery by Martha Grimes, Jury contemplates a dull holiday until he meets an attractive woman. Unfortunately, the woman departs our world but the death does liven up the holidays for Jury.
     Many other writers have turned to the holidays for suspense and intrique and murder. Amongst them are Rita Mae Brown, Lee Child, Patricia Cornwell, Colin Dexter, Carter Dickson, Reginald Hill, J.A. Jance,Ed McBain, Elizabeth Peters, Ellery Queen, and Dorothy L. Sayers.
     I've never written a Christmas Mystery but I have written a play. How about you? Have you ever written a mystery that takes place during a holiday?

Bests and Happy Holidays and a bright, shiny New Year.

Elise

YOU CAME TO ME FROM OUT OF NOWHERE

Photo by Ed Isaacs Dreamstime.com     
     Sometimes I awake in the middle of the night with an idea for a short story, a novel or an article that cries out to be written. I reach for the pad and pen on my bedside table while trying not to wake my husband and--in the dark--scrawl down the idea in what will turn out to be partially unreadable. In the  morning, it will either be torn out off the pad or, if the thought holds up in the light of day, carried to my computer
     Then, sometimes, an image of the school bully may appear--and she's perfect for the antagonist in a novel I'm planning to write. A photograph of my grandmother inspires the elderly lady in a short story. Art and sculpture in theMetropolitan Museum of Art lets me travel back in time to another place and other beliefs. Travel frees my mind and opens it to the world's pleasures and pain. Discussions and disagreements make me think and sometimes change and broaden my opinions and misconceptions leading to another piece, another story, another novel.

Where do you discover and mine your ideas?

Bests,
Elise

BONANZA

Enjoyed lunch with friends yesterday and found the mother lode of books. One friend and I have the same taste and we both enjoy many genres of fiction. When I returned home and gently removed the books from the shopping bag used to transport them I discovered a wealth of good reading. Elizabeth Gaskell, Alice Munro, Rosamund Lupton, Ruth Rendell, Jody Picoult and Kate Atkinson. I shall try to finish the New York Times Sunday edition by tomorrow and Ahab's Wife (happily waiting in my Nook) and begin. On my TBR list is Robert Caro's bio. of Lyndon Johnson, The Astaires by Kathleen Riley, Frank Langella's autobio.and The Age of Doubt by Andrea Montalbano.

In return, I gave my friend three more Reginald Hill Dalziel and Pascoe books. Buried in a page of the last Reginald Hill I gave her was an old, old bookmark from Benjamin Books. The address of the bookstore's corporate owner was listed as 330 Dalziel Road. Coincidence?

Bests,

Elise

Ah, The Books We Read and Love

Photo by GrafPhotographer

Authors have always been affected by the stories they've been told and the books they've read since they were babes in arms. The magic of fairy tales, romantic adventures of our parents and relatives and bedtime narratives dramatically illustrated by the reader. Many told over and over again. I remember my first two books--one was titled Rags, Tags, Wags and Obediah, the other Three Little Kittens and How They Grew. Like most children I went on to read The Bobbsey Twins and Heidi (loved the goats.) In my teens there was Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights and Edna Ferber's Show Boat. The last introduced me to Show Business and an exciting career. Since I love fiction whether mystery, general, or literary and non-fiction that ranges from biography, and travel to politics I'm always reading and being influenced by words. I've loved words all my life which is one of the reasons I began to write and after my first short story was published began to call myself a writer. I'm at my computer every day and carry the usual pocket notebook with me. I'm hooked. How about you? What books have changed your life?

Bests,

Elise

Catch Up

Piles of magazines by the bed--New Yorkers, Smithsonians, American Heritage, and Writers mags. Scores of Books on my bedside table. My Nook holds ten more that I look forward to reading. Just finished In Plain View--a torrid romance by Taryn Kinkaid. I'm now reading To the End of the Land, a brilliant novel and Golden Earth written by Norman Lewis that takes the reader along as he travels in Burma. Golden Earth, first published in 1951, was recommended by a friend. I shall have to read all the Lewis books.

Isn't it a shock to wake up one day and realize you can't read every book that's ever been written?

Bests,

Elise

My cozy eBook mystery titled Scene Stealer is available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Carina Press and wherever eBooks are sold. An audio version has been produced by Audible.com

The Library

Hadn't been to our local library in awhile. Busy writing a new novel, articles and stories and when I have the time to relax buying and reading a new eBook. When I walked past the library yesterday, I was shocked when I read that it is now closed on Sundays and offers fewer hours on Thursdays. Remembering my childhood, all I could think of were today's children who have parents who are unemployed, underemployed or just can't afford all the books necessary to learn.

The books I borrowed from the library made a great difference in my life allowing me to study the way other people lived and introducing me to other countries. Reading Edna Ferber's Show Boat made me long for a career in the theatre and I tried and succeeded after reading every play and theatre biography on the shelves. Most of all, the books I read transported me to other worlds, a lifelong love of reading and a second career as a writer.

Did you, as a child, haunt libraries the way I did?

Bests,

Elise

My cozy mystery, titled Scene Stealer, is available through Amazon, Carina Press, Barnesand Noble and wherever eBooks are sold. An audio version has been produced by audible.com

Billy Boyle

Found a new mystery writer in James R. Benn. I've begun reading his first, titled Billy Boyle, in his World War II mystery series and finished half the book last night. It's a page turner and I will finish the book tonight and look forward to reading the other titles.

The hero, a cop from the south side of Boston, is sent to London--his family pulled a few strings--hoping to keep him from getting killed. They're distantly related to General Eisenhower and he joins the General's team. Add espionage and a murder and Billy is handed the job of finding the spy. Billy is a charmer and I am completely attached to him. All of Benn's people are real and I'm glad I discovered the author and series.

Bests,

Elise

My cozy mystery, Scene Stealer, is available at Carina Press, Amazon, Barnes and Noble and wherever eBook are sold. An audio version is available through Audible .com

A Day Off, A Day In

Meant to spend today at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, drinking in Cezanne. Rambling through the photography exhibits then stopping for lunch at a little spot with excellent Chinese food and affordable prices. Ahh, twas not to be. The cold I've been fighting since Tuesday won. The usual sore throat and sneezing--so the day was spent at the computer cutting an article with occasional stops for lemon drops, tea, orange juice, extra vitamin C and chicken soup. The Met is postponed until next week. Supper tonight will be yogurt and left-over Irish Soda Bread.

The article is simmering until tomorrow when I will take another look, then send it on its merry way. Meanwhile, I'm thinking about the novel, thoughts creep into my mind at unexpected times. What would we do without that pad and pencil by the bed?

Bests,

Elise

My cozy mystery titled Scene Stealer is available at Carina Press and wherever eBooks are sold. An audio version is available though Audible.com

WORDS, MUSIC AND ART

This past week, public radio and television stations have been asking for contributions to keep their programs on the air. One of the announcers asked what would our lives be like without the arts and it got me to thinking. In the morning, after washing my face and teeth and throwing on some clothes, the first thing I do is turn the radio to our classical music station-WQXR-and listen while I make breakfast. Sometimes, after a restless night, the music soothes, sometimes a piece spurs me on to a more productive day. On weekends, I listen to Jonathan Schwartz on WNEW as he plays and talks about musical comedy and jazz greats. Singers like Sinatra and Clooney and Bennett. The fabulous Ella Fitzgerald and the singer's singer--Mabel Mercer. Composers and lyricists like Rogers, Bernstein, Porter, Gershwin, Hammerstein and Sondheim. What would I do without those stations?

Then there are museums where average folk can wander and fall in love with paintings that cover every taste from early Greek and Roman, African and Asian, renaissance, classical, impressionism, modern, and folk. Sculpture from the masters--Michelangelo, Rodin, Degas and photography--one of our latest arts. In Brussels--one can even study and gaze at the Ninth Art--cartoons.

Perhaps books mean the most to me. Words can make me dream, add excitemnt to a dull period in my life, encourage laughter and tears. Provoke anger, lull me to sleep and make me think. Books open my mind to the possible and sometimes make the impossible--possible.

Scene Stealer, my eBook mystery is available at Carina Press and wherever eBooks are sold. An audio version is available at audible.com

Improvization

Beginning with the Drama Club at the Y and continuing with classes in acting, the teacher always set aside some time for improvisation. Approaching one member of the class, he or she would speak in a low voice and say something like this:

Example 1:
“You are a spy and you must make this man fall in love with you. You must find out what information he has.”

The instructor would then approach your acting partner.
“Find out why this woman is here. What she knows. Do anything you have to but get the information.”

Example 2: The assignment for the next class was becoming an animal. Most of the class chose the ones with four feet. I lived closer to the aquarium and spent an afternoon studying a fish.

Sleepless one night, I began to think about those days as an actress and realized improvising had a lot in common with writing. You begin with your idea of what the characters should do, why they’re doing it and what the story and the theme is about. Then, sometimes without any warning, your characters decide they want to go in another direction. Your villain isn’t your villain anymore, an unlikely heroine emerges, and a chapter or two or three needs to be cut. You try to keep to your original idea but your characters are stronger than you and you think-Oh, what the hell, I’ll try it their way.
Usually they’re right.

I’m into the first draft of a new book and so far-so far my characters have behaved but my instinct tells me they’re biding their time and we’ll be having a few discussions about the right direction for the novel. How much of a say, do you allow your characters?

Research

I love research. Of course, it is dangerous. I'm checking a date and-all at once- there I am caught up in the events of that day, that year, that period. I hear about a man who lived long ago and I want to know more about him. I become fascinated by his family, his loves, his way of life, his country and spend hours learning more and more about him or off I go on a tangent because his younger brother or his child is pulling me away. Finally-I stop. I realize I have enough material and it's time-long past time to write.

Of course, sometimes the material I've found and not used is right for another piece, another story or another character. This may lead to papers saved in files, cabinets, bookcases, tables and last resort-the floor. I confess-I have a messy floor.

Bests,

Elise