Running Aimlessly on the Hamster's Wheel

Running Aimlessly On the Hamster’s Wheel by Debra H. Goldstein

One of my favorite characters in the Stephanie Plum books by Janet Evanovich is Stephanie’s hamster. At some point in every book, there are a few paragraphs devoted to Stephanie feeding the rodent and observing it mindlessly running around the wheel in its cage. Lately, I’ve been having a lot of days that I totally identify with the hamster’s aimless journey.

Juggling the desire to write with family and life responsibilities often resembles the hamster’s endless circling. Writing requires coming up with an idea or ideas and translating them into words clearly enough for a reader to recognize and engage with the thought. This process takes time and energy, but it isn’t the only demand on a writer. Other things, besides writing, come into play, too. These include selling the work, meeting editorial deadlines, launching the piece, publicizing the final product, praying that nothing goes wrong, and immediately repeating the process. 

Although this sounds simple, real-life obligations often conflict with the writing process. Whether illness, death, the need to do one’s taxes, or simply enjoying pleasurable interactions with other people, each can stop creativity. When too many of these things co-exist, which often happens to me, the hamster’s wheel seems more attractive than the real world. I choke up with a fear or flight reaction. Eventually, reality steps in and I accept that the buck of avoidance stops with me. That still doesn’t stop me from feeling overwhelmed until I adopt a coping strategy.

For me, the best strategy is to let myself have a short freak out moment before creating a prioritized to-do list that I work through one item at a time. By the time I finish, I still may have the desire to flee to the hamster’s wheel, but what needs to get done is or I’ve accepted that it doesn’t need to be accomplished.

What about you? Are you ever overwhelmed? How do you cope?

 

A Lesson in Moderation (Revisited) By Sarah E. Burr

For the past six years, Malice has held a special place in my heart, not just as an author but as a lifelong mystery lover. This year, I’ll once again have the honor of co-hosting The Bookish Hour at Malice, and it got me thinking back to a post I wrote a few years ago about best practices for moderators. Since writing that post in 2023, I’ve participated in more panels, attended even more, and seen firsthand how much a moderator's role can shape the audience’s entire experience. So today, I’m revisiting and refreshing those lessons with a few new insights for today’s ever-evolving conference world.

If you’re stepping into the moderator role this season, consider this your cozy guide to keeping the conversation flowing and the audience fully engaged.

Do Your Homework (Yes, Still the Golden Rule)

Given the time constraints authors face, this is probably the toughest bit of prep work. Yet, it remains the most important.

Moderators should know who they are speaking with and have insight into their work. You don’t need to read an author’s entire backlist, but reading their latest book is a great place to start. Becoming familiar with an author’s writing style, characters, and themes gives you the foundation you need to ask meaningful, specific questions.

New twist: In today’s world, it’s also worth checking out an author’s online presence. Have they recently gone viral for something? Are they known for a particular trope or niche? These details can help you connect with both your panelists and the audience in a more current, relevant way.

Allow Your Panelists to Shine

This part should feel natural if you’ve done your homework. Craft questions that highlight both the common threads and the contrasts between your panelists. Open-ended questions are your best friend; they invite storytelling, examples, and personality.

Avoid questions that lead to identical answers. If everyone responds with “What she said,” the energy dips fast.

New twist: Think of yourself as a conductor. If one panelist hasn’t had much airtime, gently guide the spotlight their way. A simple, “I’d love to hear your take on that as well,” can make all the difference.

Share Your Questions Beforehand

No one likes surprises, and moderating is not the place for them. Give your panelists at least a week to review your questions. This allows them to come prepared with thoughtful answers and examples, which leads to a smoother, more confident discussion. Prepared panelists are relaxed panelists, and relaxed panelists make for a better audience experience.

New twist: Let your panelists know it’s okay to stray a little. The best panels often feel like conversations, not scripts. Your questions are a roadmap, not a rigid itinerary. And if a spontaneous question pops into your head, go with it! Some of the best panel moments can come from unplanned questions.

Accept That It’s Not About You

Moderators are the unsung heroes of conference panels. You put in the work, guide the discussion, and keep everything on track, but you’re not the main attraction. And that’s exactly how it should be.

When framing your questions, it’s fine to include a light, natural reference to your own work if it fits organically. But your primary goal is to create an engaging, entertaining, and insightful experience for the audience.

Ironically, when you do this well, people will remember you.

New twist: Think of moderation as a form of professional generosity. You’re creating space for others to shine, and that generosity reflects back on you in the best possible way.

Keep an Eye on the Clock

This is one of the most underrated moderator skills. Panels often have more material than time allows, so pacing is key. Be mindful of how long each answer runs and gently steer the conversation forward when needed. You want to leave room for audience questions, which are often the most memorable part of the session.

Pro tip: Have a “lightning round” question or two in your back pocket in case time is running short but you want to end on a high-energy note.

Engage the Audience (They’re Part of the Panel Too)

A great panel doesn’t just happen on stage; it includes the audience. Make eye contact. Read the room. If the energy dips, don’t be afraid to pivot slightly or inject a bit of humor. When it’s time for Q&A, encourage participation and repeat audience questions so everyone can hear them clearly.

New twist: If appropriate for the setting, you can even weave in a quick audience poll or prompt.

Plan for the Unexpected

Technology glitches. Missing panelists. Time changes. It happens. The best moderators stay flexible and calm under pressure. Have a few backup questions ready, and be prepared to adjust on the fly if needed. A steady, confident moderator can turn a potential hiccup into a seamless experience.

Sarah’s Final Thoughts

Moderating is both an art and a skill, one that gets better with every panel you lead. At its heart, it’s about creating a space where authors feel comfortable, conversations feel natural, and audiences feel included. When all those pieces come together, it’s a little bit of conference magic.

With conference season in full swing, I hope these tips help you step into your role with confidence and maybe even a touch of excitement.

Because truly, there’s nothing quite like a well-moderated panel.

Do you have any moderating best practices you’d like to share? I’d love to hear them!

Small Towns, The Perfect Mystery Setting - by Judy L. Murray

“It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.” Sherlock Holmes, The Adventure of the Copper Beeches by Arthur Conan Doyle

The English may think they have the corner on dangerous villages, but we prolific American writers also create lots of small-town settings that affect our characters’ lives and charm our readers. We know small towns make for perfect incidents of murrrr-der whether we choose the Chesapeake Bay, the Midwest, or the Colorado mountains.

Cabot Cove, the beloved hometown of Jessica Fletcher of Murder She Wrote, will always be one of the most famous mystery series locations, proving that cozies belong in villages. With boats in the harbor, a country doctor, and a small-time sheriff, Jessica’s travails became a genre theme. Over the years small towns as a location evolved into private jokes among authors. After all, how many murders can any one town handle?

What makes small towns the perfect cozy setting? Being from a small town in Pennsylvania, I think of local shops, teachers who taught generations, three-person sheriff departments, and two traffic lights. The anonymity a killer might count as an advantage in a big city is far less likely in a small town. Local killers have a harder time dreaming up alibis because everyone knows each other’s business, for good and for bad. If he’s new to the community, he’ll stand out like a red Maserati parked next to an old pickup truck.

Readers enjoy a small-town sense of community. They get emotionally involved with a book’s familiar cast of characters, even the annoying ones. Parks, shops, and libraries where characters meet to discuss the latest news are endearing. It adds to the shock and concern of a murder just discovered. Who did it? Why? Is the killer one of us? Gossip and accusations fly. Townspeople are less likely to set bad news aside and continue their lives untouched. Some will circle the wagons. Some will spill the beans. Someone decides to do some sleuthing.

The bakery, the church, and the hardware store all form an even smaller microcosm within the town setting. It’s here where co-workers become family even when not related. They are dependable and close-knit. They either welcome a newcomer or regard the newcomer with suspicion.

A crime in a small village provides a different element of fear, unlike a crime in a big city of strangers. The person killed isn’t a stranger. They know the victim personally. And the killer is highly likely to be someone they know. Secrets are closely guarded and loyalties are long, even when misguided. The town buzz is fodder for useless clues and valuable insight.

Amateur sleuths in small towns tend to nosey into solving crimes and step on the law’s toes. They’re good at talking among the locals to flush out clues. The small police force with limited resources may initially discount our sleuths’ abilities but grudgingly come around to their intrusions and deductions.

Although we might joke about the frequency of small-town crimes like in Cabot Cove, as readers we’re perfectly happy to set those doubts aside. We fall in love with the odd mix of characters. We stay up at night turning pages while we sort through the drama, the danger, the clues and the missteps. We hope we can ferret out the killer before the sleuth. Much like the all-too-famous line about Vegas, what happens in small towns stays in small towns. Until the next dead body. And that’s part of the fun.

A Found Memory by Nancy L. Eady

As I mentioned in my last post, the plan was to move this month. The plan worked. I will not be executing a similar plan in the foreseeable future. 

We started moving in our new house Saturday. We can now walk in our bedroom, find clothes for work during the week, walk in the great room and the kitchen and the bathrooms, which is great progress. I have not yet found the cord for the family laptop, which made writing this post challenging, but I’m sure we’ll find it soon. 

One of the heroes of this move was my daughter, Kayla. She’s a young adult now, and she worked incredibly hard. She helped with packing, cleaning, moving stuff out of one house, moving stuff into the other house, and unpacking. Plus, she has taken on the task of walking all three dogs as they need it until we get our fence. Currently the waiting list for the fence is four weeks.  

But I was looking through some old notes, and found the following anecdote from when she was fourteen. Times have certainly changed! Here is the story, as told the night after it happened: 

Things got a little tense at our household this morning thanks to contacts and baseball, strange combination that it is.

Kayla got contacts about a month ago and after the first three days, which were rough, had most of the kinks worked out – until this morning.  I knocked on her bedroom door to tell her I was going to take a shower, so wanted to tell her good-bye in advance.  In return, I got screamed at    yelled at  was informed tersely that her contacts were just “not working” this morning and she was afraid she was going to miss the bus. [How something with no moving parts or motor can “not work” is beyond me.]

When I told her she had nine minutes left and she should calm down a little, I threw a spark onto a pile of dry twigs and leaves.  I am not saying I slammed any doors over the conversation —but I slammed my bedroom door over the conversation.

However, as we all know, Karma works its magic at the worst (or best) possible times.

Fifteen minutes after the bus came, Kayla texted.  She had forgotten her permission slip for the baseball game field trip her class was taking today, and would I please bring it to her at school so she wouldn’t have to sit in the boring classroom all day long and my husband and I lose the twenty dollars we had plunked down for the field trip?  [I’m sure it was our losing the twenty dollars that was worrying her the most.] [Insert sarcasm font.]

I contemplated telling her “No.”  I should have told her “No.”  I almost texted “No.” But instead I clenched my jaw and started looking for it.  Once I found it, the following text exchange ensued:

ME:  Leaving house now.  Please be at front at drop-off line to pick up form.  Do NOT make me park and come inside. 

KAYLA:  I can’t do that. It’s against the rules.

[At which point, I had grounds for justifiable homicide.]

ME:  Then how the ^&*&%$%(*&^ do you expect me to get it to…    [text deletion and rewording interrupted by further communication from Kayla.]

KAYLA:  I’ll try it

ME: [Deletes previous text without sending.]

KAYLA:  Coach Dean said I could come to the car-rider line.

My mood was not improved by the fact that I managed to lose the permission slip three times before I made it into the car to head to the school.  

The smile on her face when she grabbed the form from me, though, made it worth it.

Finding forgotten memories like that are one of the great joys of writing for me. It’s a little snip of serendipity from the past. Have you ever thought of how you might use that type of “found” memory in a mystery setting?  

Keeping Up With the People in My Life by Marilyn Levinson

Like most people, I keep up with some old friends and with relatives I'm close to. I'm still in contact with a friend from elementary school days, and I Zoom every month with three of my closest college friends. Recently, I've found myself thinking about some people with whom I haven't been in touch, who have been important to me at different times of my life. Texting and emailing make communicating easier than sending a letter or even making a phone call. However, time is always limited and somehow I've found it's easier to call someone I was with the previous weekend than to call someone I hadn't spoken to in months if not a year or two.

This past year, several people I know have died. As we grow older, so do our friends and colleagues. I wondered if any of my friends had died without my having known. And so I made a list of the people with whom I wanted to reconnect. I planned to call someone on the list every three or four days.

I began contacting the people in my life, perhaps not as frequently as I'd thought I would. Alas, I discovered one had died. Another informed me that her husband had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's. But others were, in relatively good health, and we enjoyed a long conversation as we caught up on each other's life.

At the end of every phone call, we said we'd stay in touch. Easy to say, but not always easy to do as once again the everyday and familiar takes over and making phone calls to old friends requires time I don't always have. But I will try.

Killer Questions - Our Favorite Things

Killer Questions – Our Favorite Things (to be sung to the song from The Sound of Music)

Annette Dashofy - My cat. Foals (baby horses) and foals’ whinnies. Birdsong. Long naps. Mountains. 

Heather Weidner -  

• Puppies, good books, and warm fuzzy socks 

• Cuddly sweaters, pizza, and not following clocks

• Family celebrations, road trips, and a pretty rainbow

• Beach life, dark chocolate, and fireflies that glow

• These are a few of my favorite things.

James M. Jackson - Being outside in nature tops the list; if inside, then in no particular order: reading, creative writing, and helping someone learn something.

Martha Reed - Great coffee. Visits to exotic places. Funny and engaging people. Golconda diamonds. Italian cream cake.

Sarah E. Burr - Aromatic candles, aromatherapy soaps, faux fur coats, doggie outfits, blue convertibles

Kait Carson - Fog, Cats and kittens, dogs and puppies, Chocolate Croissants made with dark chocolate, scuba diving, the sun on my shoulders.

Susan Van Kirk - books, jigsaw puzzles, grandchildren, time to read, writing “The End”

Elaine Douts - Maple cream on waffles on a cold winter’s day. Hot tub with a glass of cold Sauvignon Blanc, please. And a hot day on the beach, sleeping under the umbrella.

Margaret S. Hamilton - The smell of summer rain on hot asphalt, cuddling a standard poodle, daffodils tossing in the spring wind, the first lilacs, yellow and orange sugar maple leaves in the fall, the fresh smell of a live Christmas tree.

K.M. Rockwood - The smell of summer rain on hot asphalt, cuddling a standard poodle, daffodils tossing in the spring wind, the first lilacs, yellow and orange sugar maple leaves in the fall, the fresh smell of a live Christmas tree.

Korina Moss - My cat, jigsaw puzzles, the beginning of each season, road trips with my son, when it’s raining or snowing and I have no place to go, long morning coffee chats with my sister.

Lori Roberts Herbst - Rocky Mountain National Park. Each season there holds a unique beauty and peacefulness.

Grace Topping - Listening to audiobooks—while driving, cooking, doing housework, and at night when I can't sleep.

Shari Randall - Broadway musicals, powdered sugar crullers from Neil’s in Middletown, Connecticut, sharpened pencils, dahlias, dancing, books, books books!

Mary Dutta - Books, dark chocolate, kitchen utensils

Debra H. Goldstein – Nothing…I’m a curmudgeon at heart!

Let's Play Fair by KM Rockwood

Recently, I had few days with an extended window of opportunity to read! What heaven. I have a huge, varied TBR list. What shall I choose?

I go for the latest work of a favorite author who writes a beloved series of crime novels with strong mystery and thriller bends.

The book starts out invitingly. It’s Christmas time, with a raging snowstorm. I know Elmore Leonard’s first rule of writing is to never start with the weather, but like all rules, it’s meant to be broken. In this case, it looks like the weather will end up a true character, a hovering reality which presents challenges and obstacles, forming an intrinsic force in the story.

There’s some vague advanced technology featured which doesn’t ring true to me, but hey, I’m not up on what’s feasible and what’s not. Additionally, this is fiction. If an author wants to create things that don’t exist but make sense in the context of the story, fine by me. I’ll believe in it.

Some mysteries are who-dun-its, inviting the reader to try to figure out the solution along with the protagonist. While I do enjoy those novels, and I will give some thought to figuring things out, I don’t mind letting the story flow along, and I’m never disappointed if I am wrong. I also like the complicated crime novels, like Midsomer Murders, where so much is going on that I find it virtually impossible to solve the mystery myself. It doesn’t bother me that there doesn’t seem to be either solid clues or red herrings, although I do take note of a few odd happenings.

Partway into the story, the weather seems to lose its grip on the situation. The storm continues, but now that characters have to get to a destination reasonably quickly, traffic is conveniently no longer snarled by snow and wind. In fact, the protagonist is involved in a traffic stop. Not only is the officer apparently unconcerned about the difficult driving conditions and vehicles in distress, he conducts the traffic stop standing by the driver’s window with no regard for the pelting snow and fierce wind which must make it difficult to even stand there, much less have a drawn-out interaction with those in the car.

When the characters get to the crime scene, suddenly helicopters have no problem being dispatched to fly over the area. This is in northern Virginia, apparently along the Potomac River. If the weather conditions permit air traffic, it should be a very crowded area, with close monitoring by air traffic controllers. Most of us remember what happened when a military helicopter in the area asked for visual clearance and then collided with an airliner approaching one of the three major commercial airports in the area. Operator’s whimsey seems to be the controlling factor of this helicopter’s operation. Then our protagonists are whisked away by helicopter to another location to do more investigating, weather conditions and other air traffic be damned.

I can’t say I don’t find these issues disturbing, but the story is intriguing. There is a vicious serial murderer at work, and a very limited repertoire of possible suspects. All is tightly woven together. I tell myself I must have missed clues, both subtle and major. I feel invested in most of these characters.

I eagerly approach the dénouement.

When it comes, the villain is someone who has made no previous appearance in the story at all. Or whose existence has even been hinted at.

A deus ex machina solution? The “god of the machine,” where in Greek plays a god descends to settle all matters pretty much regardless of what went on previously in the entire story?

Pretty much.

I was disappointed. I felt like I had been cheated, wasting my time and musings.

I’m not going to mention the book or the author, since I recognize that perhaps others may view the story differently and enjoy it. I don’t want to take away either from the author’s hard work or another reader’s enjoyment. But I do have to say this series is no longer on my list of eagerly anticipated new releases.

Have you ever met with disappointment from an eagerly anticipated book from a favorite author?

A Poetry Month Surprise

April is National Poetry Month.

I honestly can’t say that I’m a poetry reader – my TBR rarely has a collection of poems in it. I wonder why that is? Perhaps poetry makes demands on the reader that a novel doesn’t, requires a different level of attention, a deeper engagement?

 

As my professors used to say, discuss.

 

However, whenever I stumble upon a poem, I can’t help but fall under its spell. Poetry gets under my skin in a way that differs from other literature.

 

I do have one collection of poetry on my bookshelf. I’m a huge fan of Emily Dickinson. When I visited her home/museum in Northampton, Massachusetts last year, I signed up for the house newsletter. While following links from the newsletter, I fell down a research rabbit hole and discovered something I didn’t know about one of my favorite authors, Agatha Christie.

Agatha Christie wrote poetry. Quelle surprise!

 

I’ve been a Christie fan for decades and didn’t know this. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that she tried her hand at poetry. The versatile Queen of Crime wrote novels, short stories, and plays. You can explore information about her poetry here:

https://www.agathachristie.com/search/results?q=poetry

 

Her first collection of poems, The Road of Dreams, was published at her own expense in 1925. A critic praised her “lyric gifts” but also told her that it wouldn’t sell. Since only one edition was printed, it seems that he was correct. Luckily for us, she turned her prodigious gifts to other pursuits.

 

Are you a poetry reader? Did you know that Agatha Christie wrote poetry? Have you discovered anything about a favorite author that surprised you?

 

Shari Randall is the author of the Lobster Shack Mystery series set in charming Mystic, CT. As Meri Allen, she writes the Ice Cream Shop Mysteries.

 

MY FULL CIRCLE JOURNEY

 by Korina Moss

Some of our WWK members at Malice Domestic

‘Tis the season for Malice Domestic, an annual mystery fan convention that takes place in Bethesda, MD the last weekend in April. 

My Agatha Award for Cheddar Off Dead

This conference has a special place in my heart because it’s where I get to meet readers who love mysteries as much as I do, hang out with my writing friends, and get to know some of my author idols. It’s also where I won an Agatha Award for Best First Novel for Cheddar Off Dead and was nominated the following two years for Best Contemporary Novel for Case of the Bleus and Fondue or Die. Being among the writers I admire in those categories and being recognized by the mystery community was an honor.

Selling and signing at the Little Falls Cheese Festival

As every published writer knows, behind the fun stuff like accolades and meeting readers, lies the hard work of writing and marketing your books. I keenly felt the pressure of having my first series published by an imprint of Macmillan, a big-5 publisher, along with then having to launch a new book every six months. By book six, I was pretty burnt out. 

Event poster and my books on display at Barnes & Noble 

When the series ended, I couldn’t imagine jumping into another book or series right away. However, I wanted to remain in the mystery writing community while my muse decided when to resurface. So about 16 months ago, I shifted my focus from cozy mystery author to freelance developmental editor specializing in cozy mysteries. I enjoy the work, and I get to revel in my clients’ successes: finding agent representation, receiving publishing contracts, and independently publishing their mysteries. And at this year’s Malice Domestic, I get to cheer on one of my clients whose book has been nominated for an Agatha Award for Best First Novel. (In February, it won the Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery from Left Coast Crime.) 

Adrian Andover's lauded debut mystery

Expanding my role in the mystery community has been a balm for my burnout. Witnessing the determination and excitement of new writers has reminded me of my writing roots. It’s taught me to set aside the business aspects of being a published author to get back to what really matters—creating a story I want to tell.

Readers & Writers: If you’ve been to a mystery writers conference or convention, what has it done for you? If you haven’t, what would you hope to get out of it?

If you’re attending Malice Domestic, please find me on Saturday, April 25th at 2:00 PM on the panel titled Served with a Side of Murder: Food-Related Mysteries, with fellow authors Mary Lee Ashford, Jennifer J. Chow, Raquel V. Reyes, and moderator Debra Klein. I’ll be featuring my sixth book, Bait and Swiss. At 4:00 PM, you can find me in the book seller’s room signing my Cheese Shop Mysteries.

KORINA MOSS is the author of the Cheese Shop Mystery series, which includes the winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel, as well as two novels short-listed for Best Contemporary Novel. Listed as one of USA Today’s “Best Cozy Mystery Series,” her books have also been featured in PARADE Magazine, Woman’s World, and Writer’s Digest. Korina is also a freelance developmental editor specializing in cozy mysteries. To learn more or subscribe to her free monthly newsletter, visit her website korinamossauthor.com.

Dispelling the Myth: Being an Author is NOT a Lonely Life (Opportunities Abound to Make Friends)

By Lisa Malice, Ph.D.

For generations, the stereotypical life of a writer was that of a lonely one, featuring an isolated wretch tucked away in a dark, dusty room typing away in an exasperating process of putting words on paper, ripping up uninspired paragraphs, if not whole chapters, until, at last, the story is not just complete, but perfect. A masterpiece worthy of praise and honors.

As writers in a contemporary world, that is far from reality. Sure, we do spend a lot of time alone, crafting and editing our characters and their stories. But our words won’t see the light of day without other writers being part of our writing journey.

This is a truth I learned early in my writing career from a local mystery author, Kathy Hogan Trochek, who made it New York Times-big when she switched genres to write southern women’s fiction under the pen name Mary Kay Andrews. She was headlining a library luncheon when I approached her to sign my book. When I told her I was working on my first mystery, Mary Kay told me to join three organizations, Sisters in Crime (SinC), Mystery Writers of America (MWA), and Romance Writers of America. Being active in these groups, she said, would give me all the support for learning to write and publish my work.

Mary Kay spoke the truth. Over the years, the people I met and worked with during local chapter meetings, sponsored workshops, conferences, book signings, festivals, and more, provided me with the support I needed to craft, pitch, publish and sell my debut psychological thriller, Lest She Forget. With the help of my friends, my book skyrocketed to the Amazon bestseller list for thrillers on its launch day and remained there for its debut month. My three-minutes of fame on local TV that first day I owe to a fellow author I met through International Thriller Writers who hosts Tampa Bay Reads on our local Fox affiliate.

Like any published author, building relationships with readers is also key to my success, and these are connections in which I revel. Whenever and however I meet them . . . chatting up books at a Barnes & Noble signing or a community book festival . . . discussing the intricacies of my characters with a neighborhood book club . . . sharing a break in the hospitality suite with a die-hard mystery fan at a crime-fiction convention . . . even meeting up at the gym . . . it’s a joy to share in the love of a good story of mystery, suspense, and thrills. (Selling a book is merely an added bonus, which usually brings to my reader’s face, too!).

The most challenging time for all writers during my journey was the first two years of the COVID shut down, leaving everyone feeling disconnected and depressed. In-person events, chapter meetings, conferences, book festivals, and hardest of all, book launches were cancelled.

Thankfully, technology came to the rescue. Skype, Zoom, Google Meet, and other video conferencing platforms brought us all back together again, and in some cases, extended our reach. Sisters in Crime, for example, made a deal with Zoom to provide its platform to all its chapters, which allowed its national members to become local chapter members anywhere in the world. For national members with no local chapter in their area, this proved to be a great asset.

The rise in virtual competency has fueled opportunities for authors to connect with readers across the country, especially with online book clubs. Delta Sigma Nu, the business fraternity my kids joined in college, hosts such an event monthly to bring together alumni from all across the world who share a love of books; my daughter, Olivia, snagged a spot on the calendar for me to share discuss Lest She Forget with the club shortly after its launch.

As another example, Karen Dionne and Hank Phillippi Ryan saw the need for programming that offered interaction with book authors and created The Back Room, a virtual 90-minute book club meeting every other Sunday evening that brings together readers to chat with four authors hawking their latest books. Learn more at www.The-Back-Room.org. Rogue Reads, a monthly book chat hosted by Rogue Women Writers (www.RogueWomenWriters.com), similarly grew out of the need to connect authors and readers during the pandemic.

 

This is all great, but at the same time, people are yearning for more in-person connections. Companies that relied on its employees to do their jobs virtually are now requiring people to return to the office, in part, to rebuild what can’t be fostered with people who never see each other face-to-face—teams of employees, interconnected and working well together not just because they share linked jobs, but more intertwined because they share their lives with personal conversations, celebrating birthday, enjoying lunches and other outings, that is, they are friends and not just co-workers.

This primal need to connect in-person is building among our writers’ organizations. A recent survey of my state chapter of MWA, for example, shows that members are eager to have more local events and gatherings, that is, a chance to get to know one another in-person. This sentiment holds fast especially with those people who rarely attend chapter meetings and events. As a result, there are plans in the works to create more regional groups within our state to offer members opportunities to build personal, and more meaningful, connections to each other.  That should help grow the memberships in the area, as well, further building those critical connections for success as a writer.

I look forward to seeing this movement for personal connections grow in my own area.

How about you? How did the rise of virtual conferencing impact you personally or professionally? What do you like about it? What is missing? How are your local organizations working to make their members more connected?

 

 

 

Is Your Generational Influence Showing in Your Writing?

By Heather Weidner

Recently, I’ve taken several management classes for work about communication and coaching different generations in the workforce, and some of the discussions of each cohort’s preferences and experiences made me think about my writing.

The generations and their birth years have been defined as: 

The Generation	Birth Years	Description
Greatest Generation	1901-1927	Resilient, came of age and fought/supported WWII
Silent Generation	1928-1945	Influenced by the effects of the Great Depression and WWII
Baby Boomers     Generation Jones	1946-1964     1956-1965	Post-war expansion and social change   Came of age during the Vietnam War and the civil unrest
Generation X	1965-1980	Latch-key kids, self-sufficient
Millennials or Generation Y	1981-1996	First generation Internet and known for work-life balance
Generation Z	1997-2010	Digital natives or iPad kids
Generation Alpha	2010-2024	21st Century kids
Generation Beta or Sigma Generation	2025-2039	AI and Automation generation

As I age and some of my newer series’ sleuths get younger, I found that there are some key things to be aware of to ensure that my writing is accurate.

Do I have the slang right? Are the expressions from the correct time period? We often do a lot of factchecking of things in our research, but dialogue is often overlooked. Here are some examples from each group. Sometimes the terms overlap generations, and other times, you need a dictionary, encyclopedia, a search engine, or an AI chat to translate. 

The Generation	Slang for Fabulous	Slang for Awful
Greatest Generation	Swell, grand, top-notch, first rate	Lousy, rotten, no good, the pits
Silent Generation	Neat, keen, peachy, dandy	Crummy, bum deal, for the birds
Baby Boomers	Far out, groovy, cool, right on	Bummer, drag, bogus, bad trip
Generation X	Awesome, sweet, cool beans, rad	Lame, weak, harsh
Millennials or Generation Y	Awesome, epic, legit, amazing	Trash, cringe, fail, the worst
Generation Z	Slay, fire slaps, lit, hits different	Cheugy, sus
Generation Alpha	Slay, bussin’, fire, GOAT, cooked	Mid (mediocre), trash, NPC behavior (Non-player character in a video game)
Generation Beta	It’s Too Early to Tell	It’s Too Early to Tell

Your language choice is influenced by your experiences and those around you. I’m GenX, and I grew up with Baby Boomer teachers and co-workers. I tend to use slang from both of those groups. Now that I have more Gen Zs in the workforce, I’m adapting to a whole new set of words. (Some days, it’s like learning a foreign language.)

Do my allusions fit the age or experience of my character? When I first started working, the Silent Generation or the Boomers would always talk about where they were when certain historic events happened. (My generation was not born when Kennedy was shot, we were toddlers when Apollo 11 landed on the moon, and we were in elementary school when Nixon resigned.) I have a Boomer on my team who often doesn’t get why some of his teammates don’t get his jokes and cultural references. (“Seinfeld,” and “Cheers” are available in reruns or on streaming, but Gen Y and Gen Alpha didn’t watch “Must See TV.” They are used to on-demand not cable or network television.)

Do my historical and cultural references match the age group? As authors, we check our facts to ensure authenticity, but sometimes we make mistakes when we reference things that happened before a certain group was born or when they had to be in bed before “Late Night TV.” (I didn’t get to see “Saturday Night Live” live until the eighties because of a nine o’clock bedtime.)

Does my technology reference the correct age group? Just ask someone younger than you what the little icon next to “Save” is in most computer applications. They all know the button is  for saving, but those who didn’t use floppy disks have no idea what the picture is. (My Gen Z niece calls record albums “big CDs.”) I discovered when I did a ride along with my local police department that some of my law enforcement references were dated. (Most use digital fingerprinting now.) If you write police procedurals, make sure you keep up with the new technology.

There is so much research out there now about the different generations, their experiences, and their preferences, and if you want an immersive lesson in jargon, spend an hour or two watching TikTok.

For additional information on the generations, check out:

A Year-by-Year Guide to the Different Generations

The Changing Generational Values – Imagine | Johns Hopkins University

Age Range by Generation | Beresford Research

Through the years, Heather Weidner has been a cop’s kid, technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager. She writes the Pearly Girls Mysteries, the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries, The Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries, and The Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries. 

Her short stories appear in a variety of anthologies, and she has non-fiction pieces in Promophobia and The Secret Ingredient: A Mystery Writers’ Cookbook.

Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather has been a mystery fan since Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew. She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a crazy Mini Aussie Shepherd.