How Do I Kill Thee? Let Me Count the Ways by Teresa Inge

While participating on the Women Solving Crimes panel at Malice Domestic this year, the moderator asked us about the different weapons we use to kill people in our novels and short stories.

Fortunately for me, the panel had received the questions in advance, which gave me time to review all the homicides I’d written and determine my methods of murder. With sixteen books, I was beginning to lose track of how I kill people!

I began my murderous review with Mutt Mysteries, a four-book series with dogwalker, Catt Ramsey, who solves crime and murder with her dogs, Cagney and Lacey. I had multiple victims and killings in these books. The weapons include a cutting board, knife, gun, pruning shears, and a dog trimmer. All of which fit right into each killer’s homicidal hands.

In Virginia is for Mysteries, a three-book series, I was on a killing spree with boards! I gave one victim a blow to the head with yet another cutting board, then used three wooden boards in various stories to kill people, smashed a killer in the face with a chalkboard, and used a glass vase to kill another.

In other books, I used different methods and weapons. These include strangulation with a lanyard lassoed around a victim’s neck, a chest stabbing with a road sign, a stab in the neck with a pink beach charm, and three shootings in three stories. I then pushed a killer over a riverboat’s balcony and shot him for good measure before lodging a corkscrew in a victim’s neck…twice. I finished the review with blunt objects to kill two victims, and a fatal allergy reaction to another.

After the review, I realized that I had never poisoned anyone. What would Agatha Christie think? That’s when I began tracking my methods of murder and vowed to use poison in my next story. Check out the attached graph to see the weapon that I used the most.

THE 2024 SUMMER OLYMPICS by Sheryl Jordan

   

The 2024 Summer Olympics occurred from July 24 through August 11, as you have probably seen on news outlets and social media platforms worldwide. I enjoy watching the games as much as I can, and some would say I become a bit obsessed with them for the two-and-a-half weeks of full coverage. My fondest memories of the Olympics were watching the various events with my family growing up. I now enjoy watching them with my husband, daughter, and grandchildren, or alone late into the night.

Although I have always been a huge fan of the Olympics, I knew little about their history, origins, and how they have evolved. Here are a few fun facts:

Origin

Did you know that the first games, known as the Ancient Olympic Games, date back to 776 BC? In honor of Zeus, they took place in Athens, Greece. The games occurred every four years, known as the Olympiad. The last Ancient Olympic games recorded were in 393 AD.

 1,500 years after the last Ancient Games, the first modern Olympic Games occurred in Athens, Greece, from April 6 to 15, 1896. The games have continued every four years since then, except for three cancellations in 1918, 1940, and 1944, and a postponement in 2020. The 1918 Berlin Games were canceled due to World War I. The 1940 Tokyo Games were canceled because Tokyo's award to host was forfeited due to Japan’s invasion of China, the Sino-Japanese War, and the start of World War II.  The 1944 London games were also canceled due to World War II. The 2020 Tokyo Games were postponed until July 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Evolution of the Games

The Modern Olympic Games have evolved in many ways over the years. In the 1896 Games, approximately 280 male athletes from twelve countries competed in forty-three events.

Women first competed in the 1900 Paris Olympic Games. Twenty-two women out of 997 athletes competed in tennis, golf, croquet, sailing, and equestrianism. Since 1991, any new sport that wants to be added to the Olympic program must have women's competitions. In the 2012 London Games, women competed in all sports events for the first time. In 2016, 45 percent of the participants were women. Gender equality was first achieved this year at the 2024 Summer Paris Games, where 50 percent of the 10,714 athletes from 206 countries were women. Wow, it’s about time!

The Rings

The rings representing the Olympics were designed in 1913. The original design was used on the Olympic flag, which consists of five interlocked rings in colors from left to right: blue, yellow, black, green, and red on a white background. The renowned design represents the unification of athletes from the five inhabited continents of the world: Africa, Asia, Europe, North and South Americas, and Oceania. The colors represent almost all colors of most flags in the world.

 The Torch

The torchlight represents unity and harmony around the world. It is one of the most significant symbols of the Olympic games. The tradition of lighting the Torch began in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics. It is lit in Greece and carried by renowned athletes to the host country, where the Olympic cauldron is lit and remains ablaze throughout the Olympic games. It has traveled around the world several times and through hundreds of countries.

 The Medals

The athletes compete for three medals in each sports competition – Gold, Silver, and Bronze. The medals are awards for the athletes' hard work, with the top three athletes winning the medal, but I wondered what metals they are made of. Each Olympic Games has variations on the medals. The medals for the 2024 Paris Games include a steel replica of the Eifel Tower. The gold is mainly made of 92.5 purity silver and about 6 percent pure gold. The silver medal is made up of mostly silver with the same purity rating. The bronze medal is made up of 95 percent copper and about 5 percent zinc.  Who knew? All these years, I thought the gold and silver medals were made of pure gold and silver!

Also, gold medals weren’t always included in the Olympic awards. In the Ancient Olympics, first-place winners were awarded the silver medal and an olive branch. The second-place winners were awarded a bronze medal and a laurel branch. Gold medals didn’t exist until the 1904 St. Louis Olympics.

The United States won the most medals in the Olympics' history, with 2,959. It was followed by the Soviet Union and Great Britain.

After the 2024 Summer Olympics, the United States won 126 medals, 40 of which were gold. They were followed by China, with 91 medals, including 40 gold, and Great Britain, with 65 medals, including 14 gold.

I enjoyed watching the 2024 Paris Olympics. My favorite competitions are basketball, gymnastics, track and field, and swimming. I was rooting for the United States, but I appreciated all the talented athletes from all over the world giving their all. There were victories, upsets, disappointments, and mistakes were made. Some competitions were allowed for the first time in history, but they will not return to the 2028 games. There were lots of surprises and famous entertainers and athletes from past games. I found the 2024 games to be very entertaining.

What struck me most while watching the Olympics was the camaraderie of teammates cheering each other on and the respect most athletes had for their competitors. This made me think of how authors support and encourage one another. Authors from different parts of the world and of different genres cheer each other on and celebrate each other's wins whenever a book or story is published and released, or when we finish writing a chapter we’ve worked on and have rewritten it over and over. And all the edits we do to make our stories the best they can be for our wonderful readers who anxiously await the next book. We are a team we all can win at writing!

Did you watch the 2024 Summer Olympics? If so, what were your favorite competitions?

SEXY AND SASSY SIGNING 2024 REVIEW- BY: Kimberly Thorn

 

Sexy and Sassy Signing -July 19, to July 21, 2024

The weekend of July 19, 2024, through Sunday, July 21, 2024, romance authors swept the City of Norfolk off of its feet.

It was the 8^th annual Sexy and Sassy Event where over 80 romance writers celebrated the ever growing billion-dollar industry by mingling with romance fans.  Each year there is a different theme, this year’s theme was Hot Hawaiian Nights.  The writers as well as fans pulled out all the stops this year especially.  They brought out their leis, flower clips for their hair, Hawaiian dresses and flip flops.  This writer learned that if you are single, the flower clip goes on the right side of your hair, but if you are taken, it gets clipped to your left side.  Dully noted!  Events included several socials, workshops, author panels, an Ohana brunch and a huge signing event.  Several vendors were there as well, including the new Chesapeake romance bookstore, Novel Grounds.

I attended with my sister for the first time, and we had a blast.  There were several local romance writers there who included Hunter J. Skye, Nan O’Berry, Jenna Jaxon, T.B. Bond, Dawn Ibanez, Allie Marie, A.R. Moler and the one who started the annual event, Amy Marie. 

My sister and I went for a couple of different reasons.  First, we went because we were curious as we had never been before.  As a matter of fact, I hadn’t heard about this even until early last year when I attended my first ever Chesapeake Romance Writers’ meeting.  The event planner Amy Marie was there speaking to the group about it and I had absolutely no clue about what they were talking about.  Thinking back to then boy was I a newbie or what?  Second, we went to help support not only some of my writer friends, but fellow local authors.  We enjoyed conversing with and getting to meet several new writers who included some of the following:

Kimberley O’Malley, who not only writes romances but also has a wonderful cozy mystery series that is a funny, quick read.

Sue Langford, who had tote bags with the cutest sayings on them.  I purchased four.  Of course, one for me that said book babe and one for each of the ladies at my work for their Christmas that I will fill up with goodies. 

Britt DeLaney, who writes para-normal and sci-fi romances.  She offered the wrapped blind date with a book but mixed it up a bit.  With her blind dates with a book, it wasn’t just one book you purchased, but the whole set.  What a great idea!

Sidonia Rose, who had her hubby working with her which I don’t know about you, but I find it absolutely adorable.  He seemed to be just as invested in not only her writing but her writing career as she is.  She writes sweet and young adult romances.  She also has some cute notebooks with funny sayings on the covers.  (I know, every writer’s dream and downfall.  Just what writers need, more notebooks!)

MaryAnn Jordan, who has several different romance series with some great covers.  Two books in her security agency series are my Christmas gifts from my sister.  If only I can wait until December 25^th to look at them…..I mean read them!

Third, well where else would a bookaholic spend their weekend?  Fourth, my sister went looking for not only her favorite romance author, Nancy Naigle but for Christmas gifts for those on her list that love reading.  I showed her last October at another author signing event about purchasing books directly from authors and having them sign them. She gave a few of those signed books as Christmas gifts last year to some family members and they absolutely LOVED them.  They even requested more.

While there were a few hiccups, overall, it was a fun event where we got to broaden our horizon on romance novels.  There were authors there that wrote everything from sweet romances to hot and steamy ones with all types in between, including fantasy and sci-fi.  The list of attending authors for next year has already started being posted.  If you don’t see your favorite one yet, never fear because the list will increase with interested authors as the time becomes closer.  It was a well-attended event, and it isn’t a stretch to say that I think that it will be even bigger next year.  If you’re interested, here is next year’s line up, so far.   

Save the date!  In the meantime, go get a romance of your choice, gave a refreshing cold drink, and go have your own Hot Hawaiian SASSY time!

WOMEN IN WARTIME: AMERICAN CIVIL WAR SPIES by Yvonne Saxon

Rose O'Neal Greenhow

Two of the most notable female spies of the Civil War were Rose O'Neal Greenhow and Elizabeth Van Lew.

A girl from a small farm in Maryland, Rose Greenhow moved to Washington, D.C. when she was either 13 or 14 years old. After marrying Dr. Robert Greenhow, a federal librarian and translator in 1835, she was accepted into high society, even socializing with First Lady Dolley Madison. 

When Robert died in 1854, Rose bought a house four blocks north of the White House. She became a leading socialite, maintaining alliances with Southern Democrats and Northern Republicans. Her influence even reached to the White House, helping James Buchanan get elected president in 1856.

She always considered herself a "Southern Woman," and in the spring of 1861 she became a Confederate Spy. Rose heard that the Union Army was planning an advance on Manassas, Va  through the chairperson on the Senate Military Affairs Committee. Rose recruited Bettie Duvall a young woman with Confederate sympathies, to help her warn the Southern troops by hiding a cipher in Duvall's hair. Duvall snuck out of Washington dressed as a farm girl, and took the secret message to the Confederate Army. The First Battle of Manassas was a Confederate victory due to Greenhow's information.

Soon, 48 women and 2 men in several states were involved in Greenhow's  spy ring. They used a sophisticated cipher, coding and decoding messages. Unfortunately, Rose Greenhow was careless when it came to storing the confidential information, keeping maps and other documents in her home. Allen Pinkerton, the head of the Union Intelligence Service and the founder of America's first detective agency in Chicago, was sent to monitor Rose. Seeing a clandestine meeting between Rose and a Union Soldier, he reported it and the War Department stepped in. Her house was searched and a map of Union fortifications and other incriminating documents were found. She was placed under house arrest, and in the following weeks other suspected spies were imprisoned in Rose's home.

Even then, she continued communicating with members of her network, waving different colored handkerchiefs from the windows and smuggling notes in and out of her house. She was moved to the Old Capitol Prison but continued to be a nuisance. The Union government never brought her to trial fearing Rose would either expose governmental secrets or cause mockery of government officials, and she was released on May 31, 1862. Told not to leave Confederate borders, she defied the Federal orders, sailing to France and England to raise support and funds. While in England, she became engaged to the 2nd Earl of Granville, writing her memoir about her imprisonment.

On the return trip, Rose's ship ran aground near Wilmington, North Carolina. When Rose and two other Confedeerate agents tried to reach the shore in a rowboat, they capsized and Rose Greenhow drowned, weighed down by the two thousand dollars worth of gold she was carrying for the Confederacy.

Elizabeth Van Lew

Elizabeth Van Lew was born in Richmond, Virginia, but educated at a Quaker school in either Philadelphia, PA or Princeton, NJ, which may have accounted for her anti-slavery politics later.

Both Elizabeth and her mother were active in Richmond's high society, while practicing "multiple methods of giving their slaves independence and financial autonomy." One of their slaves, an African American girl named "Mary Jane" was baptized in their home church, sent to Princeton, NJ for an education, and spent 5 years in Liberia as a missionary, courtesy of the Van Lew's.

Elizabeth and her mother had to walk a fine line between maintaining their position in high-class society and their more radical politics of abolition, especially when war broke out. Both women convinced General John H. Winder to allow them to bring food and provisions to the captive Union soldiers in Libby Prison, on the outskirts of Richmond. Under the guise of "female benevolence," they passed messages back and forth from the prison, managed to find prisoners extra food and water, and helped prisoners escape, at great monetary and social expense to themselves. 

In order to divert suspicion from their activities, Elizabeth and her mother staged public outings where they could be seen helping Confederate soldiers and even had the Confederate prison warden living in their home.

 General Benjamin Butler heard about Elizabeth's activities and in December 1863, he recruited her as a spy for the Union Army. During the war, her spy network of 12 people, both black and white, helped her collect information from the Confederates. In March 1864, two Union officers attempted a raid on Libby Prison to free the prisoners. One of the officers was killed in the ill-fated campaign and his body was hung on display then secretly buried. Elizabeth used her spy ring to locate the secret burial, recover the officer's body, and rebury it in a safe location so it could be given to his family after the war.

Elizabeth's activities throughout the war got her acknowledgement from General U.S. Grant and a small stipend for her efforts. But it didn't cover the costs she accrued during the war, and she never recovered her social standing. She was labeled a "traitor," "crazy," and "mad" by the high society she used to associate with. 

After the war, she became Postmaster of Richmond during Grant's presidency. She hired many African Americans and women to posts.

When she died in 1900 at the age of 82, she left behind a legacy as an effective spy and a significant asset to the Union Army.

Resources used: nps.gov, battlefields.org

The post "Women in Wartime: American Civil War Spies" appeared first on sandinourshorts.blogspot.com

 

 

 

IS THIS A MYSTERY OR IS IT SUSPENSE? by Maria Hudgins

Question: The book you are reading has a murder on page twenty. Is it  a) mystery b) thriller c) suspense  d) adventure. Answer: It's a mystery.

I bet most of you got it right without even thinking about it. I remember a mystery conference I attended where a well-known mystery writer said, "I try to have a dead body on page one if I can." I think that's going a bit too far. It puts a cramp in your scene-setting plans. But the idea is fairly sound. Mysteries are about figuring out what happened. Suspense stories build up to something that happens.

This week, the third week in July 2024, is both. I have been glued to my laptop for more on the happenings in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. In November we will have a coast-to-coast event that will involve all of us.Are we in a mystery, a suspense drama, or, as Joe Rogan suggests, a simulation? The events in Butler, Pennsylvania have left me with unanswered questions about what happened and why. Mystery. What will happen between now and our November election? Suspense. What are the odds something unexpected will happen between now and then? A denouement? A clash of philosophies? A meeting of minds?

The story I am writing now is morphing back and forth in my head between mystery and suspense. I am wondering if I have to stick with one or the other, or if I can sort of straddle the two. I haven't finished my outline, but I have already written the first chapter. I think this may be the problem. I should first do the outline. Then start writing.

There is a book I know will help me and I already have it on my bookshelf. It's Carolyn Wheat's How to Write Killer Fiction. She talks about "The Funhouse of Mystery" and "The Roller Coaster of Suspense." In a mystery the main character, the sleuth, is mentally challenged to figure something out, and the reader is, too. In a suspense story the main character, the hero, is emotionally, if not also mentally and physically, challenged to overcome a daunting problem. 

I have a slight problem with writing suspense. I love my main character and I hate having to put him or her through the coming challenge. But I have to steel myself against the misery and do it for the sake of the story. No misery, no story.

 Writing a mystery is more comfortable because the challenge is mainly mental. The problem here is that I have to keep it from becoming a dry mental exercise that nobody wants to read. Here's where the first-or-third person choice may help. I often choose first person because we can know what the main character is feeling as well as what he is thinking and you don't have to worry about head-hopping when it's all coming from one head.

And speaking of our current national challenge to choose a political leader, I am grateful to be the fly on the wall who observes the suspense and thinks about the challenge, but doesn't have to personally enter the fray. Thank goodness for TV and YouTube. 

A POEM TO READ BY THE CAMPFIRE by Yvonne Saxon

 

The Listeners

BY WALTER DE LA MARE

‘Is there anybody there?’ said the Traveller,   

   Knocking on the moonlit door; 

TO PANTS OR TO PLOT? THAT IS THE QUESTION by Penny Hutson

Please forgive the much-used quote in the title, but that is the question many writers face. And having tried and failed many times to complete an entire book until I outlined one, I fall on the side of outlining. Fortunately, you don’t have to choose one or the other. You can do a little of both, and I’ve recently learned this is called plotzing or plantsing.

Just to be clear, by outlining I simply mean a detailed summary of your story from beginning to end and a description of its characters, both written out in complete sentences. I am not referring to those tortuous devices required in many English classes with the Roman numerals, letters, numbers, or other bullets.

Pantsing, on the other hand, means writing without any pre-written guideline. The name comes from the saying of doing something “by the seat of your pants.” Sometimes, it’s called the discovery method. The writer starts with a general idea of a story or maybe a “what if . . .” question and begins writing. Often, the pantser does not know how the story will end, what characters will show up, or what the main conflict will be.

Many highly successful writers like Stephen King and Fifty Shades of Grey author E.L. James use this method. King, in fact, declares outlining a waste of time. Lisa Cron, in her book, Story Genius, explains that some people instinctively know what makes a good story, so “. . .the novel merely unfolds as they write, delightfully surprising them at every turn.” She concludes that these writers may think they are just writing blindly from one scene to the next and that “. . . that’s the nature of writing itself, rather than their nature.” Often these writers assume everyone else can do the same thing.

Unfortunately, not everyone can. How do we know if we need an outline or not? Simple. If you’ve written a complete book without it, you don’t need one. If you haven’t, and like me you’ve tried, you probably do.

If you’ve completed one or more books without an outline but can’t interest an agent/publisher or get many readers to buy it, perhaps an outline would have helped create a better story. Maybe not, but it’s worth considering.

Not too long ago, I heard a best-selling American author, whose name I now cannot remember, confess in a live interview with R. L. Stine that he would never write another book without outlining, even though he’d written many successful novels as a pantser in the past. To his surprise, once he started outlining, his rough drafts came together quicker and needed less editing. Those are some of the benefits of using an outline, even if you don’t need one.

I completed my first novel using the Snowflake Method which I now love. It allowed me to choose the level of outlining and how much detail to include. I did the lowest level or least required amount for this particular method. Once I had created all the major plot twists, conflicts, and obstacles leading up to the turning point and then resolution, I had a clear road map to complete a descent rough draft. I could have further outlined all the chapters and then each scene within the chapters, but I did not go that far. Essentially, I pantsed my way through each scene and later decided where to break each chapter. I don’t know how much of my next novel will be outlined, but I will certainly begin with one.

So, if you’re starting a book length work for the first or hundredth time, and you’re struggling to complete it, you might consider starting with at least a simple outline. I recommend the Snowflake Method, but there are many others. Just pick one and stick with it to the end of your story. Don’t give up when it gets hard or assume outlining isn’t for you. It may not be as easy or as fun as creatively writing from one page to the next, but I believe it will pay off in the end. It took me several weeks to produce the outline for my novel, but after decades of starting and never finishing a novel, I was thrilled with the results. By starting with a limited outline and then pantsing my way through the rest, I captured the best of both worlds. Find what works for you and finish that book!