Pen, Spoon & Dagger

The human memory is short, particularly when it comes to painful experiences.  That's one of the miracles of human proliferation.  Without the benefit of suppressed memory - let's call it selective amnesia -- few women would endure the pain of childbirth more than once (or so I've heard -- no first-hand experience, myself).  The same can be said for raising more than one puppy. Clue, my Golden Retriever, is almost 12 years old.  I rescued her from a shelter when she was 10 months old - still a puppy with all the joys and aggravations that brings.  Over the years, the memories of chewed  shoes, chair rungs and rugs, ADHD at obedience classes, and mad escapes from the yard have faded. And, in my blissful state of amnesia -- or maybe it's conscious repression -- I aagreed to foster a puppy.During the holidays! Colour me crazy. So Henry arrived.  A six-month old border collie mix rescued from a kill shelter in TN, Henry has charm, personality, and ener...

This time of year there are never enough hours in the day, but I balk at skimping when it comes to serving food to friends and family.  Many years ago, someone gave me a cookbook called How not to miss the Cocktail Hour .  I loved the idea of not being stuck in the kitchen while everyone else is having fun, and began compiling my own stash of recipes for entertaining. The holidays are here, so it's once again time to dig into my special box of "quick & easy, make ahead" goodies.  One of my favourites is marinated mushrooms, which can double as cocktail fare or an appetizer.  They can be served chilled or room temperature and, aged overnight, they only taste better! Clue's Marinated Mushrooms 1 lb  small white and/or cremini mushrooms (quarter if large) 5 Tbsp  oil (vegetable or canola) 4 tsp  vinegar (white or cider) 3 tsp  chopped onions 3 Tbsp  dry white wine or white Vermouth 2 Tbsp  Coin...

How long does it take to discover if you're no good at something?  Three days into the 30-day NaNoWriMo challenge I discovered an interesting fact about myself:  I'm not cut out to be a speed writer.Twenty-two days have done nothing except substantiate that fact. This should come as no surprise to those who know me.  I'm your typical, garden variety Virgo:  shy. reliable, practical, intelligent and analytical.  Oh, and did I mention fussy, overcritical, perfectionist and a worrier?  These are not the traits of a successful NaNo marathon writer. I understand the principles of the NaNo. Obviously you have to get something down on the page -- anything -- before you can try and revise it into something polished and publishable. As a journalist I learned to just put a piece of paper in the typewriter (yes, I'm that old) and start typing.  Eventually the "good" stuff would start flowing and you could strike out the bad beginning.   But the wh...

If you're looking for something to do for dinner this Thursday night -- and you have $1,000 per person to spend -- you might consider attending the Daniel Fall Game Feast. The annual event benefits the Bocuse d'Or USA Foundation. If you're not a "foodie" this may not mean anything to you, but both Danial Boulud and the Bocuse d'Or are legendary in the culinary world. Think Arthur Conan Doyle (or Agatha Christie) and the Edgar Awards. This year's dinner is hosted by culinary master Boulud, as well as Ariane Daguin:  owner of  D’Artagnan gourmet foods and  founder of Les Nouvelles Mères Cuisinières , an international association of women chefs. If, like me, you're an enthusiastic foodie, but find yourself a little short of cash, you can still dream. The evening will begin at 6:30 pm with a Champagne Reception and succulent charcuterie buffet, where you’ll indulge in exotic game dishes like warm tourte of wild grouse and juniper. Then, at 7:30, ...

Crime Bake is over.  What can I say except I'm counting the days until next year's event - the 10th anniversary! It was great to meet up with old friends and meet new ones - lots of them, thanks to Hank Philippi Ryan's genius scavenger hunt. I'm experiencing my normal "withdrawal" symptoms: a renewed energy and determination to finish my manuscript, find an agent, and get published,  and a sadness that I won't see many friends until next fall. This year's theme -- " Written in Blood " -- paid homage to guest of honour Charlaine Harris.  Although Sookie Stackhouse did not appear in person, she was certainly there in spirit.  In fact, her alterego made an appearance at the costume event! And a screening of HBO's True Blood closed out Day 1 in a most fitting manner. A second day of learning to hone our writing craft skills was topped with the Red & Black Banquet and Vampire Ball.  Just let your imagination run wild and you won...

NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow so don't expect to hear from me for a while. For those of you unfamiliar with this event, National Novel Writing Month is a writing challenge -- a seat-of-your-pants approach to novel writing. Participants begin writing November 1. The goal is to write a 175-page (50,000-word) novel by midnight, November 30. Over 120,000 world-wide will participate this year. But how many will finish? And let's be honest, the aim here is quantity not quality. Since I generally write between 500 and 1,000 words per day, the 1,667 words/per average is going to be more than slightly challenging. Thankfully I have a plot in mind, mixing a Victorian Inn with psychics, food, and, of course, murder.  Stay tuned to see how it all turns out. In the meantime, I won't have time for much cooking, so I'm sharing the world's easiest soup recipe. It's delicious and makes a huge amount! A mug of this will keep you typing all afternoon. Pumpkin Soup     3  10-...

There are days when I just want to turn off my computer and never turn it on again.  Days I wonder why I ever thought I could be a writer.  Days I wonder why I didn't learn a nice trade -- like blacksmithing. The process of writing is far harder than I imagined when I started out, several years ago, to write the next great mystery.  I had time, an idea, and the reassurance of friends that I had a knack with words.  What more did I need? I can hear the groans, sniggers, and laughter out there.  Like anything else worthwhile, good writing is a lot harder than it sounds. A lot, lot harder. Writing is not for the weak, the faint of heart, the quitters. About the same time I took up writing, I started yoga - for relaxation.  I started with the usual Om Shanti , repeating it over and over.  Now I have a new mantra:  Never give up . I'd like to take credit for this brilliant philosophy, but like most plots, it's been said before: “ Never, nev...

It dawned on me this morning that I take a lot of things for granted.  One of them is undisturbed quiet.  You know what I'm talking about - that lack of kids asking where their [fill in the blank] is, TVs blaring, phones ringing.  I am (mea culpa) incredibly spoiled.  I have the luxury of a quiet office, with few distractions, where I can write whenever my muse strikes.  Up until yesterday, I took this all for granted.  Yesterday the work crew arrived to clean/remodel the attic and basement.  At this very moment, I'm listening to furniture and boxes being dragged across a bare plank floor over my head.  Every so often a loud thud punctuates the annoying buzz of a high-powered vacuum.  This is not, really not , conducive to writing.    Was that crash the box of  antique bone china?  Every writer has his/her perfect environment -- real or dreamed.  If you're an author, you understand the need to have a spe...

I'm suffering from writer's overload -- a genetically-based affliction affecting only a select part of the population.  I realize that all women (and some men) are super beings, capable of multi-tasking from dawn till dark, but there are limits. In addition to all the little mundane things like, job, laundry, shopping, cooking, dog, elderly mother, yard, major attic and basement renovation and fall clean up, I am presently: 1.    working on my only-half-finished manuscript 2.    taking an on-line course on improving my first five pages 3.    participating in Krista's BlurbX exercise 4.    working on my flash piece for CrimeBake 5.    writing free-lance articles for a dog rescue group. 6.    editing a short story I hope to SELL. I'm exhausted and it isn't even lunch time.  And I desperately need a haircut and manicure! In the good old days, when I was a project manager overseeing 3 p...

I don't know where you're sitting at the moment, but I'm in a cold, wet house (too early in the year to turn on the heat), watching the rain drizzle down.  Last week we were 4 inches below normal for rainfall, this week we've made up the shortfall and pulled ahead by two inches.  Need I say more. This kind of weather makes me thing of one thing: soup.  So here's my cure for the rainy day blues. Butternut Squash and Apple Soup   (Serves 8 generously)     You can vary the spices any way you like.  If you don't like heat, start with just 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp cumin with black pepper to taste.   2 Tbs    unsalted butter   1 1/2 cups    sliced leek, white and pale green parts only   1 Tbs    minced garlic   6 cups    peeled and roughly diced butternut squash   3 cups    peeled and roughly diced apples   ...

As soon as the leaves start to fall, I start to think of comfort food -- soups, stews, pasta, and lots of cheese. As Jonathan Swift once said: "Bachelor's fare: Bread, cheese, and kisses."  He forgot the beer.   The English favour a pub meal called a Ploughman's Lunch, basically composed of cheese (usually a thick piece of Cheddar, Stilton or other local cheese); pickle (or what we call "relish" in the US), bread, and butter. If you're really lucky, a green salad, an apple, celery, pickled onions, or pâté may join the cheese on the plate. The ensemble is washed down with a pint of (warm) beer.  Sheer bliss, if you can get over warm beer. I Like things simple, so I've cut out the middleman -- I mix my cheese and beer, and spread them on my bread. Cheddar Ale Spread 6 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (1½ lbs) 3 oz cream cheese, softened 4 Tbsp soft butter or margarine 3/4 cup ale or beer ( I like oatmeal stout, but any beer wi...

Did you ever own a Raggedy Ann doll? If you're female, I'm betting you did. I've lived in Connecticut for almost 30 years, and it wasn't until recently that I discovered that Ann -- and her brother, Andy -- were created right here in my home town. It's a known fact that the duo were created by Johny Gruelle. Gruelle was born in Illinois, but eventually moved his family to the East Coast, where he'd accepted a full-time position with The New York Herald (turning out weekly pages of his Sunday comic, "Mr. Twee Deedle"), as well as several book illustrating commissions. Around 1912, he built a house in the Silvermine area of Wilton. Somewhat of a pioneer, he included amenities most homes didn't have: electricity, running water and -- ta dah - indoor plumbing. There are several versions of the story of how Raggedy Ann came to be, but around here we go with the bittersweet version. Marcella, the Gruelles' 13-year old daughter, contrac...

When you hear about writers' retreats, do you picture sunny beaches, cabana boys, and pina coladas, or do you see a room full of people feverishly scribbling notes and engaging in heated discussions? If you picked the first choice, you're WRONG. I just returned from the Seascape Mystery Writers Retreat , and let me tell you, we worked our [insert word of your choice] off.  I'm not saying we didn't have have great time, but it was no  lay-in-the-sun vacation.  We worked on our manuscripts, discovered our strengths and weaknesses, and commiserated on the uphill battle of getting published..  We honed our skills at plotting, creating suspense, and developing characters.  And we did it from 9 AM to 9 PM.  Along the way, we made new friends, found hidden talents and laughed a whole lot.  Hallie Ephron, Roberta Isleib, and S.W. Hubbard generously shared their talent, wisdom, and knowledge with us.  We learned how to pump up suspense, how to develo...

Sometimes writing can actually  save you time - especially if your primary character is a caterer. Most days, I carve out an hour or two to write, or do research, fitting the time in whenever I can.  Sound familiar?  Good writing takes time, and that's time taken away from everything else we need to do - like laundry, holding down a job to pay the bills, etc.  I don't regret the time, I just wish there were more hours in the day. Generally I look to my life for inspiration for my writing, but this week I'm going the opposite way.  My current WIP has the protagonist faced with catering a huge cocktail party - a senate campaign launch..  The first thing she has to do is decide on a menu, and then prepare the food for 150 hungry people -- all in 24 short hours. As life would have it, I'm planning an open house/cocktail party in celebration of my mother's 90th birthday this month.  Who better to consult than my own character?  The menu is alrea...

Next week I'll be back to making and freezing gallons of tomato soup for this winter, but today I'm taking a  to deal with the bonanza crop of zucchini.  I love zucchini, but I've never had any success freezing it.  I've heard that you can pre-grate it and freeze, but mine turns to mush.  So, I use it up quickly, before they have time to grow into baseball bats - you know what I mean if you have a garden. Here's one of my favourite zucchini recipes - a vegetarian meal everyone will enjoy. Dill Zucchini Pie 1 Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust  1 cup grated Gruyere cheese  1 cup grated horseradish Cheddar cheese 3    small zucchini (6-8 oz each) or 2 medium, cut into1/4 inch thick rounds   1/4 cup  cup chopped fresh dill 2 Tbsp  chopped fresh Italian parsley   2-3 ripe tomatoes, sliced 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil   Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll the dough slightly to fit a 9-inch tart ...

Shirley, Shirley bo Birley Bonana fanna fo Firley Fee fy mo Mirley, Shirley! Can a name make or break your mystery?  Certainly the title can have a huge impact on sales, but what about the actual names of the characters?  Sure we read a book for the plot, the personalities, the tone, the language,  but let's be honest, we are influenced by things like setting, era and yes, names. For better or for worse, certain "types" are associated with certain names, whether through association with someone we know personally, or someone we've read/heard about.  I doubt that anyone would christen their handsome, swashbuckling hero with the name Leroy or Arnold, or their ravishingly beautiful heroine, Brunhilda because of the mental images those names evoke for most readers.  Names also date characters.  Tiffany, Destiny and Troy are modern; Mildred, Clotilda and Cedric are dated. The era is which your story is set may, to some degree, dictate the names available ...

It's that time of year again -- Tomato Overload.  You can't give them away because everyone else is suffering from the same problem.  Even the vendors at the Farmers' Market are sneaking free ones into your bag.  I don't care how beautiful they are, too many are too many.  Unless, of course, you like Puttanesca sauce.  And I love it. There are several theories on how this sauce originated, but its name -- which translates as "whore's sauce" -- suggests it was a favourite of "working girls" who could throw all the ingredients in the pot, let it simmer while they plied their wares, and then sit down to a delicious meal. No matter how it came about, it's delicious.  And it freezes beautifully, so now's the time to make a couple of batches and stash them in the freezer to enjoy when the supermarket has nothing but cardboard-tasting wannabes. Try it in January, with a big green salad and a glass of red wine.  You'll thank me! Putta...

Watching the news this morning, I finally figured out the deep dark secret behind all my sorrows, insecurities, and failures: I don't have a sister. Obviously, my parents were short-sighted during their child-bearing days, or I might be President today. New research shows that having a sister , whether younger or older  – even one who tattles, but also shares secrets and cookies – makes you a kinder, more giving person, an spur you to higher success, and generally make you happier. According to the study,  adolescents with sisters feel less lonely, unloved, guilty, self-conscious and fearful Regardless of whether she is older or younger, a sister has a far stronger influence than parents on a person's mental well-being, and therefore on her success is life. Brothers -- of which I have two -- do not, according to the report, have the same effect; it has to be a sister.   Neither, apparently, do eight years of successive boarding school roommates.  I have to...

I'm never at my best when I'm preoccupied, which happens a lot when I'm focusing more on the plot twists in my mystery than on the ingredients in my recipe. Yesterday evening, I was faced with the dilemma of sitting down and getting a really great idea down on paper, or making dinner.  Hungry mouths tipped the scales.  Not having shopped in several days, I raided the fridge and found left over chicken and a box of shitake mushrooms.  Perfect, chicken crepes it is!  After a short whirr in the blender, the batter went into the fridge to rest while I prepped everything else and made the Mornay sauce, all the while wondering how my antagonist (a young woman) learned to cut the brakelines on a truck. Eventually it was time to make the crepes.  I grabbed the revered family crepe pan -- the one with the special dimples and blue lining my mother hand-carried home from Paris some 50 years ago and set it to heat.  A quick brushing of butter and I was ready to l...

It's hard to resist that wagging tail and "you wouldn't leave me, would you?" face, but steel yourself.  It may seem cruel to deprive your favourite canine buddy of the sheer joy s/he gets from a car ride, with all those wonderful smells drifting in the open window, but the heat is seeping in, too. Even the briefest of road trips can be hazardous when the temperature soars.  It's been at or above 90 degrees here for the past two weeks and more hot weather is predicted. On a hot day, a parked car can become a furnace in no time—even with the windows open—which could lead to fatal heat stroke.  The Internet has been filled with heartbreaking stories of family pets left Dogs don't sweat.  They pant to cool off, but all the panting in the world isn't going to help during a heatwave. A parking lot is a hot plate, fueled by the sun.  Try sitting in your car in the Walmart lot and see how you like it - and don't forget to wear your winter coat!.   Parki...

Jessica Faust posted a blog the other day which caught my imagination. If you could have dinner with any 4 authors, who would you choose? She admitted the idea was stolen from her client Jennifer Stanley and her Cozy Chicks blog , and I admit to continuing the "theft." But what a great idea. So here's my question: What four authors dead or alive would you want to have dinner with? And what would you serve? Here are my picks: Jane Austen - not only did she write some of my favourite books, but her skill at characterization -- particularly considering the restrictions placed on women in her day -- is second to none. Julia Child - I'm a foodie, need I say more? Not only is she a female and a pioneer in the culinary world, but her life story is amazing. And maybe, while she's here, she can teach me to make the perfect omelet - a skill I cannot seen to master. JK Rowling - anyone with an imagination like hers has to be an entertaining dinner guest. A ra...

I should have known better.  I broke my own rule #5: never go to Williams Sonoma alone (we can discuss rules 1 through 4 another time).  Actually I broke #3, too : never take your credit card into a cooking store.   Williams Sonoma is, for me,   like chocolate chip cookies for others: irresistible and never enough. I went in looking for  a new Y-peeler.  That's all I needed.  Let's face it, W-S is not dumb; their merchandisers know about people like me, that's why they group all the gadgets together in enticing displays.  Reaching for a peeler, I realized I could, instead, get three for only a few dollars more:  a straight, a serrated and a julienne peeler in a set, and in bright colours.  And only $15.  Such a deal.  Why shouldn't I  treat myself?  After all it's a lousy, hot, humid day, a storm is threatening,  and I deserved something . No sooner had my hand closed on the peelers, than my eyes ze...

I have to admit that my writing has been suffering from gardenitis - a disease which afflicts those of us who live in the Northeast and go garden crazy when the weather finally turns warm enough to start planting - sometime after Mother's Day. This weekend I finally put in a dozen heirloom tomato plants and a dozen eggplants, as well as 36 basil plants -- all started from seed. My living room looks livable again, now that all the grow lights and flats of seedlings have disappeared. I have all the aches and pains in places I'd forgotten to prove I worked hard. I also have some new plot ideas. One of the nice things about gardening -- aside from the luscious produce that will appear in a couple of months -- is that it's a mindless pursuit. Mindless not as in stupid, but as in mind freeing. You're out there in the sun and fresh air, digging in clean smelling soil and your mind just wanders. It's the perfect time to word out plot knots and perfect characters. ...

As a dedicated foodie, I seek out not only food related mysteries, but also cookbooks and other novels/memoirs/etc. that focus on food and the culinary arts.  I just finished Nicole Mones' The Last Chinese Chef , and I will never look at Chinese food the same way. What a pleasant read.  Mones weaves a credible romantic plot with incredible insights into the history and philosophy of Chinese food. Food writer Maggie McElroy,  a widowed American food writer, is suddenly confronted with a paternity claim against her late  husband's estate--by a Chinese family claiming their granddaughter has inheritance rights. Maggie travels to Beijing with dual purposes: to write an article about a rising young Chinese-American-Jewish chef, Sam Liang, and to discover the truth of her husband's possible daughter. Along the way she meets much of Sam's family, including his Beijing uncles and the Hangzhou uncle -- a raucous, loving, argumentative bunch of foodies who advise Sam abo...

Word Count: 23,148 I've been breezing along with my manuscript, quite happy with how it's progressing until I realized I had a rather serious time line issue.  I was totally confused, which didn't bode well for potential readers.  I'd promised myself I was going to write the entire piece before rereading it -- or starting to edit -- but when I lost all sense of who did what when, I knew it was time to take a look.  So yesterday I sat down with pad and pencil (and a BIG eraser)  to outline what I've written so far, and what I already know is going to happen (or I think is going to happen).  It was like laying out a mosaic, moving pieces around to see where they fit best.  Now that I have a map to follow, I can rearrange some of what I've already got down on paper and fill in the blanks.  When I wrote my first (still sold) mystery, I had a nice tidy outline; it ran about 4 pages long.  I can't begin to count the number of times I revised that ou...

Is there an organization for gadget-holics?  I'm in serious need.  I love kitchen gadgets, to the point that I should be granted a special favoured-shopper badge at Williams Sonoma, Chef's Catalog and similar merchants.   When in doubt, my friends and family gift me with cookbooks, utensils and gadgets for every occasion. And I get excited about every single one of them.  At least until the first time I try to use one. A couple of weeks ago I received a new gadget -- a strawberry huller from my mother -- for Easter.  And,   even though hullers have been around for years, I've never owned one, relying instead on a small paring knife to do the deed.  Like other "holics", I hoard my gadgets.  At a meeting, I'd have to stand up and admit to having boxes, several boxes, and drawers of gadgets.  Some I love (in the drawers) and some I never use (hence the boxes). But for some reason, I never seem to be able to part with any of them.  What ...

Last weekend was Murder 203, Connecticut's own Mystery festival.  Held on Saturday at the Easton Library and on Sunday at the Westport library, it's a wonderful way to re-energize your spirit and your writing.  The two-day event is packed with panel discussions, book signings, raffles and a silent auction at Saturday night's cocktail party. This year's guest of honour was Mary Jane Clark, author of the Eliza Blake and Sunrise Suspense Society series.  Hank Phillippi Ryan, put on her reporter "hat" and interviewed Mary Jane.  The hour flew by, filled with amusing anecdotes and useful insights. Mystery 203 draws not only published authors, and the hopeful (like yours truly), but also avid fans who come to meet and mingle with their favourite mystery writers.  I was surprised by the number of non-writers, many of whom had driven long distances to be there.   There were lots of great sessions to choose.  Topics included: Research: balancing facts and fi...

Taxes are done and in the mail, so I'm back at my keyboard writing again and it feels good to be here.  I'm still struggling with the plot.  There are some gaping holes and inconsistencies that I need to work out, but I'm up to 20,000 words. When I wrote my first MS, I couldn't decide between first or third person point of view (POV).  There are pros and cons for each.  It's most common (but not a rule) for a mystery to be in one POV only.  And, as Donald Murray, my esteemed university journalism professor pointed out, third person POV close can feel as intimate as first person when done well. That said, I tried both and discovered something interesting: I cannot write third person.  It just doesn't work for me.  That's probably a cop out, and if I tried harder I could do it, but it just feels unnatural -- like wearing someone else's clothes. (I almost said underwear, but that's just too weird.) I struggled through a couple of chapters before d...

Today's blog is short, and has nothing to do with writing, unless I can work the insanity into my story somehow. Every so often, an article on the 'Net or in the paper (yes I still read a hard copy newspaper) just pushes my button and I have to vent. It's usually about the lack of a dog park, or some other anti-pet ordinance, in our otherwise civilized town, but this time it's something a little more delicate: bathroom facilities on airplanes.RYANAIR, a no-frills Irish line, is planning to charge passengers to use on-board toilets. If you're old enough, you probably remember when places like Grand Central had both "free" and "pay" toilets.  If you were smart, you coughed up the 25 cents for the ones they cleaned, nominally, a couple of times a day. RYANAIR is planning to make its toilets coin-operated, forcing passengers to fork out a pound ($1.65) or a Euro ($1.44) every time they want to "spend a penny" in the sky.  Their logic: t...

Total word count: 8,477 (including deletions) I had a kind of epiphany this weekend – bad pun since it was Easter weekend – but it was the other kind of epiphany, the “EUREKA” kind. I’m reading Chris Roerden’s book, Don’t Murder your Mystery .  I’ve picked it up several times before, reading bits and pieces, but never cover to cover.  This time I’m really reading it, word by word, digesting the advice, seeing how I can apply the Find &Fix Clues at the end of each chapter to my own writing. My “eureka” (the first of many, I"m sure) came when I read what she had to say about descriptive passages, using an economy of words to describe people and places, and, most of all, avoiding information dumps.  Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa.  I looked at my first MS and (I’m blushing, here) I am guilty of dump after dump. I was particularly taken with Roerden’s idea of “timed release,” of selecting one key feature or attribute for the character’s first action, and saving...

Total word count for last 2 days:  too embarrassed to post. It's been pouring rain here in the Northeast for the last 2 days and I've spent more time in the basement vacuuming up water (no sump pump) than writing. I did sit down with my laptop 2 nights ago, but I couldn't seem to get motivated.  I've got some serious plot issues that have me stymied.  I've also been rethinking my protagonist, wondering if I should change her background/personality.  These are major hurdles, at least for this writer. I tried free writing.  I don't know how that works for others, but it doesn't seem to do the trick for me.  I can write.  Give me a topic and I'll give you 1,000 words whether I know anything about the topic or not -- that's one of the things that got me through college.  My problem is relating the free writing back to my own manuscript.  Just doesn't seem to happen.. Monday night I decided to free write about a super power - a theme sugge...

Current word count:  3,791. Now that I've got my protagonist down on paper, I need to flesh out the secondary characters.  These are the people Kensing will interact with on a day-to-day basis; turn to for help, advice or a shoulder to cry on. Kensing is a neophyte caterer.  This means she'll need help not only with catering knowledge, but also with legal/police matters in order to solve the mysteries she'll face.  And, of course, we need a potential love interest.  What's life without love? To that end, she is going to meet her future business partner, Abby, early in the first book.  At the same time, she will be meeting her second partner, AnneLise, a French woman who just happens to be married to the local District Attorney.    Love interest?  How about a handsome, unattached police captain?  Maybe several years older than Kensing, but still young enough to give her a run for her money.  Friction between the two can gradually sh...

Yesterday's writing total: 1,076 words.  And half an hour's research into my chosen weapon - but that's a secret. Characters need to change throughout a series, to develop and grow.  That keeps them interesting and real.  Characters succeed if they're vivid (if they have likes, quirks and habits the reader can relate to).  They need physical traits and internal motivation (what makes them do what they do).  When I wrote my first mystery -- Never Eat Fish on Monday -- I carefully plotted out character descriptions for my protagonist and the three recurring secondary characters.  I found myself constantly revising the charts as my manuscript progressed and the characters evolved.  For 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall , I'm starting with the protagonist I developed last time.  It's a very detailed chart, running some five pages in total.  It covers everything from physical appearance to where she lives.  I also made a list of ten things ...