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.

What I did this Summer by Teresa Inge

Summer is my favorite season hands-down. As a kid, I always looked forward to summer break, and this year was no different.  

Summer Kick-off

My favorite season started with a poolside cookout with my husband, daughters, and dogs Cool Hand Luke, a Shepherd Lab mix, and Lena, a Shepherd Husky mix. After the cookout, most of our dinners were spent by the pool this summer.

Summer Happenings

With this being my favorite time, my husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary since we were married the day after the first day of summer. We then moved my just retired brother and his wife to Danville, Virginia during the heatwave and later cleaned out the messy room over my garage. Oh my! A fun time was back while winning a trophy for my 1955 Thunderbird at a car show and cruising the Elizabeth River in my daughter’s boat.

INTRO: IS THE PEN STILL MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD? By: Kimberly Thorn

 The media, even writers, get accused of having an agenda or being biased.  But let’s face it, writers, we DO have an agenda!  Whether it is allowing our reader to escape reality for a time, to prove our point of view, to scare the mess out of someone, or to make our reader laugh, we do indeed have an agenda.  I think that as writers, our main agenda, or what should be our main agenda, is to allow our readers the freedom to think for themselves.  It’s our job to help allow them to do that.  As writers, we use our freedom of speech to express ourselves, and in turn, our readers decide for themselves what they think and/or believe of our writing.  Because of this, I believe that we writers have more power than we realize.  If you don’t believe me, just think about how many times you hear someone say, "I read it on the internet, book, magazine, newspaper, Facebook, journal, etc."  The bottom line is that words are extremely powerful and as words are what we work with, writers indeed have power. 

YOUR GUIDE TO BECOMING AN AMATEUR SLEUTH by Yvonne Saxon

You’ve decided to be an amateur sleuth? Great! You want to see justice done? Wonderful! You want to find clues, track down the bad guys, and hand them over to the police? Terrific! How do you get started? Do you check out your city’s crime line website, show up at the listed address, and start asking questions? Do you duck under the police tape late at night at a crime scene? Not a good idea, unless your plan was to end up in the back of a squad car. You could be charged with obstruction of justice, or worse yet, put yourself in danger. So how can you become a good amateur sleuth that helps solve crimes?

First, assess your qualifications. Are you likeable? Are you easy to talk to, a good listener, caring? Do people open up to you? Are you intuitive? Do you have a “sixth sense” about things? Maybe you get a sense of what the Oxford New American Dictionary says “feels to be true even without conscious reasoning.” Just like Miss Marple, you’ll need these qualities to be a good sleuth.

SITTING AND ROCKING BY THE SEASHORE by Maria Hudgins

I have recently returned from the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the hands-down best way to get “Sand in our Shorts.” The waves are reasonable-not too big, not too small. The sand is fine but not too fine. Dolphins, pelicans, and trawlers swim, fly, and motor by to keep you entertained. The sun sets behind you. Popular, but nowhere near as crowded as beaches elsewhere along the eastern seaboard. I’ve been going there every summer since Roosevelt was president. (Slight exaggeration)

CHARACTERS, CONFLICT, AND THE MYERS-BRIGGS TYPE INDICATOR® - (Part II) by Michael Rigg

 

Myers-Briggs (careerfitter.com)

Wow! How time flies when you have great blog posts to read every week! Seems like only yesterday when last we chatted. But it was eons ago—the beginning of June. We’re already in August!

My previous blog provided an overview of how I’ve come to understand the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^® (MBTI) and its use as a tool for developing characters and conflict in your stories. Feel free to take a couple of minutes to review it by clicking here.

In the meantime, here’s a quick refresher:

Katherine Briggs and her daughter Isabel Briggs Myers developed the MBTI. According to Introduction to Type^®, published by CPP, Inc., the MBTI springs from the psychological type theory of personality developed by Swiss psychiatrist Carl G. Jung to explain normal personality differences between healthy people.