’TIS THE SEASON. WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE NOVEL OR MOVIE ABOUT BASEBALL? By A. Doubleplay, Guest Blogger

 

"If you build it, he will come."

Wow! It’s that time of year. Crisp fall breezes. A hint of buttered popcorn and roasted hot dogs wafting across the infield. The crack of a wooden bat sending a screaming line-drive toward the shortstop. Yes, that’s right, it’s baseball playoff time. The World Series is just around the corner.

What a game! It’s only been around in its current form for about 150 years. And baseball has been the subject of scores of novels and movies. Two come to mind: Shoeless Joe a 1980 novel by W. P. Kinsella, adapted to the big screen as Field of Dreams in 1989; and The Natural, a 1952 novel by Bernard Malamud, the basis for a movie of the same name in 1984. There are probably other baseball novels that were made into movies. 

TRICK OR TREAT FOR MYSTERY LOVERS! by Yvonne Saxon

 

Today, dear readers, we’re going trick or treating for mysteries! There are eight “houses” on this street and each one has clues to a mystery book, series, or tv/film adaptation. Some you know, others may be new to you. So imagine yourself dressed up as your favorite sleuth, and see if you can figure out what mysteries will be in your treat bag!

The first house is a Cape Cod; you can hear seagulls and smell the salt in the air. There’s no car in the driveway, just a bicycle with a basket leaning against the fence. Inside you can see an old-fashioned typewriter in a cozily decorated room. A basket of saltwater taffy sits beside another with twelve seasons of DVD’s, books, and even video games. You take the treats, but you’re sorry the owner’s gone now: you would have loved to have spent more time with her.

The next house is really old; it looks like it was built in the 1940’s. There are two nice old ladies on the porch serving elderberry wine and cakes. Suddenly, a man dressed like President Teddy Roosevelt charges out the door blowing a trumpet, giving everyone a fright! One of the ladies offers you a glass, but a frantic young man in the bushes gestures “NO!” He tosses a copy of a play in your bag and whispers “get out of here.”

CAPTIVATING CHARACTERS by Maria Hudgins

The only thing better than discovering an epic fictional character is creating one yourself. How is that done? How did Conan Doyle think up Sherlock Holmes? Did Agatha Christie know a Miss Marple? How did Johnny Depp know that portraying Captain Jack Sparrow like Keith Richards would be more fun than the old "Arghh!" growling pirate? If only we knew the answer we would all be millionaires. but usually the act of timeless character creation is chalked up to "genius" and we assume we can't do it. Can we look at this a bit more? Who flies off the page (or the screen) and grabs you? A great story needs characters that grab you.

SOME KIND OF WONDERFUL: A STORY ABOUT COPYRIGHT AND CHARCTER by Michael D. Rigg

"Excuse me, sir..."

On Saturday afternoon of this past Labor Day weekend, my wife and I strolled through the Charleston Town Center, a once-thriving indoor shopping mall, located, as the name implies, smack-dab in the middle of downtown in West Virginia’s capital city. Why we were there isn’t the subject of today’s blog. Today, I’ll talk about What, and Who, we found.   

At its height, the two-story mall offered patrons access to 130 stores, including Sears, J.C. Penney, and Macy’s. (A small third-story contains the mall’s food court.) Today, approximately 50 stores and restaurants remain. J.C. Penny stands as the lone anchor-store. Footsteps from a dwindling number of shoppers echo among the increasing square footage of drywall-covered storefronts. A change in ownership, and plans for strengthening the regional economy, bring hope for a brighter future.

STRENGTHEN YOUR SUBMISSIONS STRATEGY, PART 1 by Adele Gardner (writing mysteries as Max Jason Peterson)

No matter how you steel yourself, rejection after rejection takes a toll. It’s easy to lose confidence and feel your work isn’t good enough—when what’s really needed is to keep trying until you reach that one editor (or agent) who loves your work. Rather than feeling rejected, take heart by using statistics to bolster your stamina. As the author of over 475 published short stories, poems, art, & articles, and as literary executor for my father, I’ll share the system that inspires me to keep submitting, even to the tough markets—and helps me think about new strategies to build on strengths that might otherwise go unnoticed.

THE WRITERLY LIFE: PERCEPTION vs. REALITY by Jayne Ormerod

Many people I’ve met are envious of the writerly life. But their perceptions of what it’s like to be a writer don’t quite match up to reality. Here are my observations.

     What society thinks I do: Spend all day rolling around in my royalty money.

     What my friends think I do: Go to lunch with them (well, yes, I do that a lot) and then go home and roll around in royalty money.

     What my family thinks I do: Binge on Chunky Monkey ice cream while watching TV, reaching out to tap out a few lofty and erudite sentences when the muse hits. (In my defense I do need to “study” the “occasional” movie for plotting and dialogue training. But it’s all under the banner of “continuing education.") And then roll around in royalty money.

HAMPTON ROADS WRITERS CONFERENCE 2022: NOT JUST FOR WRITERS!

 

Many Mystery by the Sea members also belong to Hampton Roads Writers (HRW). HRW’s motto is “Where Characters Connect.” So, we thought we might take this opportunity to make an unabashed, unpaid, and heartfelt pitch for our readers to attend the upcoming HRW Conference being held at the Holiday Inn on Greenwich Road from September 22 to 24, 2022. 

Founded in 2008, HRW has grown into a multi-faceted non-profit organization. HRW serves as one of Southeastern Virginia’s literary hubs and as a welcoming home for all who love the written word. Aspiring and professional writers in all genres and at all levels of ability benefit from a variety of programs, services, and events, often presented in partnership with other cultural organizations. HRW is supported by government grants, foundations, corporate partners, and the generosity of our members.

You can learn more about HRW on its website: Hampton Roads Writers – Where Characters Connect.