Life Cycle Experiences with Writing and Family by Debra H. Goldstein

Life Cycle Experiences with Writing and Family by Debra H. Goldstein

Like many of you, I am a blog lurker. Besides the ones I write for, I read several other author blogs on a regular basis. Consequently, I’ve become familiar with tidbits of the various authors’ lives. I’ve rejoiced with them during life cycle events like births, Bar Mitzvahs, weddings, or a child becoming their co-writer, and I have been saddened when there are mentions of illness or loss of loved ones. 

Two things I look forward to are the announcements of new publications and new grandchildren. The fun from these is the anticipation of how this new being will grow, be accepted, and mature in today’s world. Some will turn out successful, some duds (okay, no family member should be called a dud, but maybe a book or story here or there), some empathetic, some hilarious. During the past few years, I’ve found myself in the same duo state of anticipation.

In the past five years, Kensington has published five Sarah Blair books, and my children have produced 3.7 grandchildren. The week Five Belles Too Many was published, I was thrilled. It is one of my favorites in the series. I loved the idea of writing a behind-the-scenes account of a television show filming five finalists, including Sarah’s sixty-plus-year-old mother, trying to win the perfect Southern wedding. The time researching and prepping the book was fun, as I was put Sarah in the middle of everything by making Sarah her mother’s chaperone. As you can imagine, Sarah, who always finds being in the kitchen more frightening than murder, isn’t any better suited to being a chaperone. 

My trepidation was whether the world of readers would see the humor in this situation the same way I did. Would they like the book? I could only hope (pray) the nuances of the different couples would engage readers and they would feel I stuck the whodunit. Similarly, I hoped readers would be satisfied by the arc growths of characters with whom they were already familiar. Most importantly, would readers buy Five Belles Too Many? I didn’t know. 

While I was agonizing over the birth and development of Five Belles Too Many, the stork delivered a baby to my daughter and son-in-law (because I write cozy mysteries, I can’t go into the details). From his fingers to his toes to his full head of dark hair, this eight-pound thirteen-ounce boy won my heart. I immediately began anticipating how he would get along with his sister, whether his face would be one of smiles or frowns, whether he would be a geek or an athlete, whether he would be tall or short, and what kind of man he would eventually become. 

There isn’t much difference in how I feel about the birth of Baby Bear (his sister’s name for him) or Five Belles Too Many. Both share the miracle of coming to life, the anguish, anticipation, and the sense of joy they are giving me. OK, maybe I am a little prejudiced in Baby Bear’s favor for the long term, but in the short run, Five Belles Too Many was important, too. 

How do you view what you read or write in terms of your life? Does a book or story provide escape or joy? How does that differ from the life cycle events you experience?

 

Why Are We So Fascinated by Reality TV?

Why Are We So Fascinated by Reality TV? by Debra H. Goldstein

Recently, all the different television channels announced the shows they were renewing and the ones they were canceling. The majority of shows renewed were reality based while many fine scripted dramas and comedies went by the wayside. From an economic perspective, this wasn’t a surprise. It is far cheaper to film a reality show and, if viewers become attached to the cast/scenery, easier to make money off of product placement and repetitive showings.

 

Although I personally have little interest in most reality TV shows, I’m addicted to the ones that incorporate a competition. Because I’ll watch and even rewatch gameshows like Jeopardy, cooking competitions including Top Chef and Chopped, or shows that offer big prizes, I couldn’t resist incorporating this world into the fifth Sarah Blair mystery, Five Belles Too Many, which releases on June 28 (available for pre-order from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, your favorite indie, or by calling your library and asking them to obtain it).

 

In Five Belles Too Many, Sarah’s mother, Maybelle, and Maybelle’s friend, George, are one of five finalist couples hoping to win a perfect Southern wedding being given away by a New York television show which is taping its competitive segments in Wheaton, Alabama. The five belles vying for the prize include four twenty-something-year-olds who love Day of the Dead, Auburn and Alabama football, and the southern world inhabited by the Beverly Hills Clampetts, as well as sixty-plus Maybelle and George. Each belle is required by the show’s rules to have a chaperone. Because Mother Maybelle doesn’t want to impose on her friends and Chef Emily works at night, the assignment falls to Sarah despite the belles and chaperones having to stay at Sarah’s greatest nemesis’ bed and breakfast. Sarah’s hope for the week to go by quickly is complicated by murder. (For more details, catch Elaine Douts’ WWK review and interview on June 22, 2022).

 

The fun in writing Five Belles Too Many was incorporating what goes on behind the scenes in reality shows. Much of what we, the audience sees, is somewhat scripted and definitely edited to play on our emotions. My job was to bring these fake moments to life for the reader, while establishing a whodunit that was fun.

 

I find reality TV doesn’t take much concentration to enjoy and each show provides a relief from the true reality of whatever is happening in my life. Tell me, does reality TV hold a secret pleasure for you? If so, which shows do you like?

Mind Tricks by Debra H. Goldstein

Mind Tricks by Debra H. Goldstein

Have you ever felt like you’re losing your mind? Perhaps, as you go to introduce two people, you go blank on the name of someone you’ve known forever. Maybe, you mentally make a list of items you must run to the grocery store for and get home to discover that you forgot to buy the milk or whatever prompted your trip in the first place. Of course, there is the classic forgetting of where one puts one’s keys or glasses. (Pro tip for the latter: check the top of your head before asking for help finding them.)

 

Happily, most of the time, this doesn’t mean you have the beginnings of dementia. Often the problem is being over-stressed or the mind simply not thinking this is a super-important item to recall at that particular moment. Authors confront this problem in a different way when the book they write becomes a series. When an author mixes up character names or relationships, attributes a character with a different eye color or hair shade, or modifies the setting in a way that is impossible based upon earlier discussions, it isn’t something to laugh off.

 

Rather, it is something that sharp readers will catch and call out the author. Even worse, it may

cause the reader to lose faith in the author’s abilities and stop reading the series. Different writers try to ameliorate the problem by keeping profiles on Scrivener; creating a bible that outlines every aspect of character and setting or using sticky notes that highlight error prone areas to avoid from one version of a story to another. Others simply hold everything in their minds and if in doubt, look back to an earlier version of the work.

 

I have never been an outliner or a planner when it comes to writing. Instead, I let the muse flow. That worked fine for the first few books, but by Four Cuts Too Many, the fourth book in Kensington’s Sarah Blair series, I often was looking back to the first three books to confirm (refresh my recollection) I didn’t deviate on anything important. The same proved true for Five Belles Too Many, which will be published in June 2022, but is available for pre-order.

 

I’m fairly sure I synchronized most things for Five Belles Too Many, but I think what’s funny is how different RahRah, Sarah’s Siamese cat, is portrayed by different cover artists. RahRah ranges from a cat who can jump off the page to the more stylized, almost cartoonish cat found on the covers of Three Treats Too Many and Five Belles Too Many. The irony, even though there is a pendulum shift between the art, people praise the cover art and unlike a minor difference in the book’s text, never mention the differences. That’s good because it isn’t something else I need to worry about. I’m having enough trouble keeping my data and deadlines straight.

 

What methods do you use to preserve accuracy in your stories or life?