The Trade-offs

Karen McCullough Posted on by

Our recent Edisto beach trip featured one event we’ve never seen there before. During our stay, a couple of trucks parked on the road behind the house and workers spent most of a day trimming and cutting down a couple of the larger palm trees that lined the road.

We’d heard this would be happening in the town this summer, though we didn’t expect it to impact us or to see it so closely. The town had previously announced the power company insisted on the removal of thousands of trees on the island that posed threats to power lines during a storm. Being a barrier island, Edisto is subject to frequent, sometimes severe storms.

Nobody likes to see the guys show up with chain saws and bucket lifts. Trees have a natural grace and beauty that no artificial barriers can match. They enhance every setting and are difficult to replace when removed.

On the flip side, we all depend on electricity. We don’t realize how much we rely on it until it goes out. I live in an area where outages happen at least once or twice a year, and it’s always frustrating. It can seem like everything we do relies on electricity.

We also have a lot of beautiful old oak trees in the neighborhood and every few years, a service employed by the power company comes through and trims or removes them in ways that are often just downright ugly.

I don’t like seeing healthy trees disfigured or cut down. I hate it. But I don’t like losing electricity in a storm, either. Power companies are starting to bury power lines now, but that’s not feasible everywhere. I don’t have an answer. Do you?

No One Ever Promised Life Would Be Fair

Karen McCullough Posted on by

Today, I’m joined by my friend Lois Winston, who talks about life as a writer and her newest book, just released!

No One Ever Promised Life Would Be Fair
By Lois Winston

I graduated college with a degree in graphic design and illustration back when, according to my kids, dinosaurs roamed the earth. My first two jobs were as an art director at small suburban ad agencies. Impressive titles. Teensy tiny paychecks. At both jobs, I was the one and only artist on staff. The only person I directed was me, myself, and I.

One day I was complaining about something to the office manager, and she said, “Lois, no one ever promised life would be fair.”

That conversation took place so long ago that I don’t even remember her name, but her words have stuck with me. Over the years I’ve had some major disappointments while others around me had great success. I’ve often been reminded of her words, especially when I look down the long and winding road of my writing life.

The outside world (those millions and millions of people who know nothing about publishing) are under the impression that every published author is pulling in big bucks. Friends and relatives expect free books because you’re a published author and can afford it. (I’m sure the published authors reading this are ROTFL.)

Reality is quite different. I sold my first manuscript in 2005. I made a whopping .24 cents in royalty on each copy sold. My second book increased to .28 cents only because the publisher increased the retail prices of their paperback line.

Most published authors, including many who have hit the NY Times bestseller list, can’t afford to quit their day jobs. Factoring in the hours most of us devote to crafting each novel, then promoting it, we’d make more money per hour asking, “Do you want fries with that?”

Anyone sitting down to write a novel, thinking it’s a quick road to riches, is in for a huge reality check.

So why do we do it?

We write because we can’t not write. (Apologies to my junior high school English teacher for the double-negative.) Writing is hard work, often filled with setbacks. You can’t sell what you consider your break-out book. Your last royalty check was in the low two figures. Your publisher drops you. Your foray into indie publishing has resulted in sales that might sustain your Starbucks habit—if you’re lucky.

And still, we continue to write.

No one ever said life would be fair—or easy, but the struggle makes us stronger. And more tenacious. And better. We keep writing. Keep honing our craft. Maybe someday luck will be on our side, and we’ll reap the rewards of all that hard work. Maybe not. The reality is that most of us won’t. One thing is for certain, though, if we give up, we’ll never know what might have happened if we kept at it.

So, we keep writing.

But that’s not the only reason I write. I write because for me, it’s cathartic. And it’s fun. I love losing myself in the world of my characters. They’ve become a second family, even if an imaginary one. I don’t want to let them go. That’s why the recently released A Crafty Collage of Crime is the twelfth book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery Series, and I’m already thinking about a plot for Book 13.

A Crafty Collage of Crime

An Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery, Book 12

Wherever crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack goes, murder and mayhem follow. Her honeymoon is no exception. She and new husband, photojournalist (and possible spy) Zachary Barnes, are enjoying a walk in the Tennessee woods when they stumble upon a body on the side of a creek. The dead man is the husband of one of the three sisters who own the winery and guest cottages where Anastasia and Zack are vacationing.

When the local sheriff sets his sights on the widow as the prime suspect, her sisters close ranks around her. The three siblings are true-crime junkies, and thanks to a podcaster who has produced an unauthorized series about her, Anastasia’s reputation for solving murders has preceded her to the bucolic hamlet. The sisters plead for her help in finding the real killer. As Anastasia learns more about the women and their business, a host of suspects emerge, including several relatives, a relentless land developer, and even the sisters themselves.

Meanwhile, Anastasia becomes obsessed with discovering the podcaster’s identity. Along with knowing about Anastasia’s life as a reluctant amateur sleuth, the podcaster has divulged details of Anastasia’s personal life. Someone has betrayed Anastasia’s trust, and she’s out to discover the identity of the culprit.

Craft project included.

Buy Links

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3NX6O13
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-crafty-collage-of-crime
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-crafty-collage-of-crime-lois-winston/1143442079?ean=2940161008225
Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/a-crafty-collage-of-crime/id6448801378

Bio: USA Today and Amazon bestselling author Lois Winston began her award-winning writing career in 2006 with Talk Gertie to Me, a humorous novel about a small-town girl in Manhattan and the mother bent on bringing her home. That was followed by the romantic suspense Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception. Lois wrote her first mystery thanks to a conversation between her agent and an editor looking for a crafting-themed cozy series. Thus, was born the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, which Kirkus Reviews dubbed, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” The series now includes twelve novels and three novellas. To date Lois has published twenty-one novels, five novellas, several short stories, one children’s chapter book, and one nonfiction book on writing, inspired by the twelve years she worked as an associate at a literary agency.

Website:http://www.loiswinston.com
Newsletter sign-up: https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/r2e9v1
Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog: www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/anasleuth
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Anasleuth
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/722763.Lois_Winston
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/lois-winston

 

A Visit to the Zoo

Karen McCullough Posted on by

When we returned home from the beach, our youngest daughter and her four sons came back with us for a visit. We had a couple of nice days that coincided with everyone being healthy (more on that later) and took advantage of those things to take a trip to the North Carolina Zoo.

Although we have a very nice local zoo at the Greensboro Science Center, the state zoo in Asheboro is much larger, with a broader variety of animals. It’s about a forty-minute drive, in a mostly rural area of central North Carolina, which gives them the luxury of settling animals into more natural and extensive habitats.

The weather was practically ideal, starting off cool in the morning but getting warmer as the day went on. Cooler temperatures means more of the animals are roaming around, eating, drinking, and playing rather than sleeping in shady corners and burrows as they do when it gets hotter.

We started at the African end of the zoo where we had sightings of elephants, rhinos, gorillas, chimps, zebras, a lion, and various others I can’t quite recall at the moment. The giraffes were not out, which was a small disappointment, since there is a newborn. That took up most of the morning.

After a stop for lunch, we took the tram to the other end of the zoo, and the North America exhibit. Another disappointment was that the polar bears were not on display, but watching a playful seal made up for it. The crocodiles were impressively large and toothy, but mostly napping. We thought the black bears were huge and scary until we got to the grizzly bear display. Those many six-inch claws made very clear why you wouldn’t want to mess with them. Elk and bison were impressive, too.

By mid-afternoon, we were all flagging, but a stop for Dippin’ Dots provided a burst of energy. The Desert pavilion was quite warm, but filled with unusual birds, reptiles, and small mammals.  I knew road runners only from childhood cartoons, but finally got to see one in the flesh!

From there we proceeded to the center pavilion where the boys all had a ride on the carousel before we hopped on the tram to get back close to the parking lot.

The zoo has clearly done a lot of work to make itself a friendly place for everyone. The tram only makes three stops – at either end of the zoo and the plaza right in the middle. It’s enough to make it possible to take in a day a zoo which probably stretches out over a couple of miles.

Someone must’ve realized that one of the most disappointing features of the experience for small children is their inability to interact with or even get very close to many of the animals. So they’ve scattered interactive informational signage near the fences and pens, and erected replicas of many of the animals that children can pet and climb on.

As you can tell from the pictures, the boys spent a lot of time on those sculptures. Clearly, they made the experience more immediately interesting and enjoyable for them.

Amazing Cakes

Karen McCullough Posted on by

My daughter, Liz, makes amazing cakes. Not only are they delicious, but her decorating skills astonish me. Her knack for it was on full display with two cakes she created for the birthdays we celebrated on our recent family beach trip to Edisto.

For my grandsons, my younger daughter always lets the birthday boy choose a theme for his party. This year her second son, who is turning 10, wanted an “Asterix” theme. For those who don’t know, Asterix (https://asterix.com/en/portfolio/asterix/)  is a series of comic books (and apparently a group of French movies) featuring the titular Asterix, a barbarian hero during the time of the Roman conquest. He adventures around Gaul, and beyond, with his somewhat thick-headed friend Obelix. Books at Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Asterix-Omnibus-Gladiator-Banquet-Cleopatra/dp/1444004247/ . The birthday boy loves those comics.

They presented a bit of a challenge when it comes to theming a birthday party, however. The usual stores are short on related merchandise. Elizabeth (Aunt Lizzy to the boys) used her imagination. She made tee-shirts for each of the boys with an iron-on Asterix and Obelix, and then she came up with this brilliant idea for a cake mimicking Obelix’s peculiar garb.

The other birthday was my husband’s and his cakes often have a book theme, since he is a scholarly sort. This one may be the best yet. I believe the title was suggested by either my younger daughter or her husband, a professor of Theology at Notre Dame. It’s a gloriously wonderful pun, suited to the amazing two-book-stack cake she created.

Malice, Matrimony & Murder- Kickstarter Ending Soon!

Karen McCullough Posted on by


The Kickstarter Ends June 15th!

Just a couple more days left to back this project for an opportunity to get lots of juicy bonuses!

I’m excited to be part of this unique project. Twenty-six authors (myself included) have contributed mystery/crime stories centered around a wedding. Each story is complete in itself, but each also contains a clue to an overall mystery, which you’ll learn about at the beginning of the book. Solve the big mystery and win some interesting prizes. My story is The Other Wedding Crasher. Learn more and sign up to support the project here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/marlabradeen/malice-book?ref=4oje6u

The May Beach Retreat

Karen McCullough Posted on by

In our family May means Beach Time! (Yes, I know, it’s June. I’m a bit late posting about the most recent trip.) My husband and sister-in-law rent a large house on the beach on Edisto Island and we are generally joined by our two daughters and some of their families. My older daughter’s two children are grown. Her son has moved to Boston, and her daughter is the mother of a small child, so neither of them joined us this year.

But my younger daughter has four boys, ranging in age from 6 to 11 and they make a family trek down from Indiana for fun at Edisto and time with relatives.

We’ve been doing this for about ten years now and, of course, some traditions have developed. Our trip usually encompasses two birthdays – my husband’s, and the second of the four boys.

Grandson C’s birthday is actually a few days before the trip, but he enjoys the special cachet of having his celebration at the beach and is more than willing to wait a few extra days for it.

Mid-May generally means nice weather on the South Carolina coast. Temperatures are usually warm enough for swimming, but not blazingly hot. We had one gray, cloudy, windy day that ended in a humdinger of a storm, but pretty much the rest of the time was good for plenty of beach fun. Plus the beach is far less crowded than it will be later in the summer.

As recently as three years ago, only the oldest of the boys was even willing to go in the water. After a couple of summers of swimming lessons, the older three are all comfortable with the surf now. The youngest likes to play in the shallows and will venture in up to his knees as long as an adult will hold his hand.

A bonus feature of Edisto Beach is that while the house we rent faces the ocean, a quick drive of a mile or so takes one to publicly accessible beaches that are on the inlet rather than open sea. The result is much calmer water with practically no waves, which lets everyone get in some real swimming and a different sort of water play. The family made that trip a couple of times and all four of the boys were into it.

Between our times on the beach, we play games, read, talk, and try not to eat or drink too much.

I can’t say it’s totally restful, but it’s invigorating in its own way. It’s wonderful to have at least some of the family together for a while, to have time and opportunity for face-to-face conversations that are rare and treasured. The celebrations help remind us of how fortunate we all are.

Plus, my older daughter Liz has awesome cake decorating skills. More on that coming.

Writing Every Day

Karen McCullough Posted on by

Most people will tell you that if you’re serious about writing, you have to do it every day, or at least so many days a week.

I don’t. I tend to be more of a binge writer.

After more than thirty years of writing fiction seriously (with the intent to publish), I’ve found that I’m not a person who can write in half-hour increments. I need a solid block of time to let me sink into the world I’m inhabiting for the story before the movie starts running in my head.

When I’m in the groove, I can try to write 500 words a day if I’m in the first half of the book or story, or 1,000 words in the second half. Most days I will do more than that.

Family and events can intervene. I’ll go for a week, or two, or three doing almost no writing. But once I have the time and space again, I settle in and get back to business.

I also sometimes just have to take breaks to ‘refill the bucket.’ After emptying my brain onto the page so many times in a row, it gets tired and wants a break. Time to let the synapses rest and to refill the creative bucket.

I don’t see it as a right or wrong way to write. It’s my way to write. I’ve been doing it for some 30 years now and I’ve managed to crank out more than 20 novels, half a dozen novellas, and dozens of short stories. That’s my method and I’m sticking with it.

Baseball is Back

Karen McCullough Posted on by

Major league baseball has been back for a while and it’s fun to sit down and watch the occasional Atlanta Braves game on TV, but the real spirit and joy of the game is found at the ballpark for our local minor league team.

The Greensboro Grasshoppers are a High-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates. Players in High-A are still three big jumps from the major leagues, and sadly, most of them will never make it there.

Some do, though. In our many years of going to ‘Hoppers baseball games (and their predecessors, the Greensboro Hornets and the Greensboro Bats), we’ve seen eventual All-Stars like Derek Jeter, Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, and J.T. Realmuto at the starts of their careers. Two players currently on the Pirates roster played in Greensboro for a while (Rodolfo Castro and Ji Hwan Bae).

You can frequently pick out the ones who have the talent. Giancarlo Stanton still holds the record for the longest home run hit in our ballpark. And that was only one of the 30+ blasts he hit in his single year playing here. The only downside to seeing top-flight talent is that you know they won’t be around long. Often they don’t stay for the full season before being moved up to the next level.

The game play isn’t always the crispest, cleanest, or most elegant since the talent level is so uneven, but the games are exciting and (usually) competitive. Our fairly new downtown stadium, which holds about 9,000 people, is nice. There are almost no bad sight-lines. You can sit within a few feet of either dugout or right next to the field. Nets prevent most foul balls from leaving the field, though the occasional souvenir makes its way into the stands.

Team ownership tries hard to make the games fun for all the customers. A variety of foods, beverages, and snacks are available. (Aside: Why do the hot dogs always taste better at the ballpark?) Between-innings entertainment includes games, contests, dancing on the dugout roofs, and the antics of the mascot, Guilford the Grasshopper.

Another aside: The Grasshoppers aren’t actually named after the insect. Greensboro was the site of a Revolutionary war battle that helped turn the tide in the Colonies’ favor. One of the primary weapons was a small cannon known as a Grasshopper https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grasshopper_cannon

Other interesting features of attending a game include the appearance of the current “Bat Dog” Miss Willie Mays. She follows in the footsteps of the late Miss Babe Ruth, Master Yogi Berra, and Miss LouLou Gehrig, who have all sadly passed on. It’s always fun to see the black lab race onto the field to retrieve a bat left behind by one of the players and bring it back to the dugout. And weekend games are capped off with an awesome fireworks display.

For those who wonder: I really like the new rules. The games are quicker but there’s more action!

Garden Time – May 2023

Karen McCullough Posted on by

May is the perfect time for gardening in central North Carolina. The average temperature has warmed up enough to make the plants grow happily but hasn’t yet reached the sizzling levels that will make summer pretty miserable.

At this point the daffodils, tulips, and iris have come and gone. The Asiatic lilies are budding and the gladiolus are pushing up strongly. But May is the month of the roses, and mine are looking splendid this year.

Growing roses in this area is a challenge. They are glorious right now in the warmth and wet of May, but they really don’t like our very hot and humid summers. To ensure they stay reasonably healthy, I feed them rose food once a month, water a couple of times of week in hot weather, spray regularly for insects and brown spot during the summer, and deadhead constantly. I hate having to spray, but the combination of aphids and Japanese beetles means I’ll have no plants left if I don’t. (The experiment has been made. I’ve tried several ‘natural’ means of getting rid of the bugs. They don’t work.) But when the weather cools again in the fall, they’ll have another explosion of blooms to reward my efforts.

Other things are going on in the garden right now as well. Many of the perennials are beginning to bloom; the zinnia and cosmos seeds are germinating; and the weeds are proliferating despite my constant effort to remove them.

The area in front of the house needs a refresher and some new plants, but we’ll be having our front porch rebuilt in a couple of weeks, so there’s no point in working around there until the workers are finished tramping over it.

I have in mind a couple more areas to turn into flower beds.

That’s the thing about working in the garden. It’s never done. But the rewards for the effort are really quite wonderful.

That Wonderful Moment When It All Comes Together

Karen McCullough Posted on by

It’s probably my favorite thing about writing – that glorious moment when the threads I’ve been writing weave themselves together and I see the pattern and what is going to happen next. There’s a kind of high about it. I suppose it’s when my subconscious mind releases to the conscious mind the full picture of what it’s been working on for the last few days, weeks, or months.

As a writer, I fall into the “pantser” category. I start with an idea or an opening scene, and sometimes a vague notion of where it’s going, but I frequently have no idea what’s in between or how to get it where I want it.

So I write the story to find out what happens, just as a reader reads it for the same reason. I sit at the computer and let it come out. I watch the characters, set up the problem, and wait to see what they do next.

It’s a bit scary to write that way, not knowing how I’m going to get from point A to point B all the way to Point Z. I’ve had a few false starts. But for the most part, the magic does happen, and I write the story all the way to the end.

But there always is a Moment. It’s like a flash of lightning in the brain that illuminates how everything comes together and shows me the answer I’m looking for and how I’m going to get there. In a novel, there may well be several of them as I go along with each one showing further development of the plot. In a short story, it’s usually just a single light bulb suddenly switching on.

That happened recently when I was working on the story I’ve just finished for the Malice, Matrimony & Mystery anthology. I started out with a character, a title, and an event. Then I just wrote, going along with what I saw happening. At the 2500-word mark (of a 4500-word story), it finally came to me who the baddie was, what would happen, and how it would be resolved. I even saw a couple of rather neat twists in the resolution.

I love it when that happens!