Goals for 2025

Karen McCullough Posted on by

Well, 2024 wasn’t that great for reaching my goals, but I’m starting this year with the optimistic hope that I’ll be more productive.

So, obviously, goal one is to finish Unleashed for Murder, the fourth book in the Market Center Mysteries series. The series is planned for five books, with possibly a short story or two added in. I have ideas for the rest, but don’t really want to pursue those until I’ve finished the current work in progress. It stands at 50K words of a projected 70 to 75K, so there isn’t that much left to do. I even know what needs to happen. I just have to figure out how to accomplish it.

Once that’s done, I need to tackle rewriting Treadwell House. As I also mentioned in the 2024 goals assessment, I’ve gotten some good feedback on it, know what’s wrong with it, and how to fix it, but it will require quite a bit of work. Still, I love this story and I’m going to get it finished.

Being seriously optimistic, I’d like to get a start on the fifth and final book in the Market Center series. I already have a basic idea of the plot.

On the short story front, I’m hoping to build on my recent success with a few more new stories and continuing to submit older ones that have yet to find a home.

As noted before, I’m still working on the blogging regularly goal. I’ve been trying for two a week and was doing pretty well until we hit Thanksgiving. The holidays are always a hard time to keep up with anything writing-related, but this year I will try to keep up the two a week goal and have more in inventory. And the personal memoir hasn’t really moved forward much, so there’s that to work on, too.  It’s lower on the priority list, but still there.

Another Short Story Sale!

Karen McCullough Posted on by

I wrote “The People in the Neighborhood” a 5000-word gentle mystery/thriller short story, a couple of years ago specifically for an anthology of mysteries involving neighbors. It eventually was turned down for that one, but the editor took the time to tell me it was close but didn’t quite fit in with the other stories he’d accepted.

When I saw a call for another anthology of mystery stories involving neighbors, I thought of this story and submitted it. This time it was accepted.

Detectives, Sleuths, and Nosy Neighbors: Dying for an Answer should be available in ebook sometime in late spring from Inkd Publishing. I’ve already sent back the first round of edits on the story.

I believe there will be a Kickstarter for a print edition. Stay tuned for more info.

Hawk in the Neighborhood

Karen McCullough Posted on by

Walking with my daughter around our neighborhood, a few days after Christmas, we heard a commotion among the local crows, which frequently signals the presence of a predator in the vicinity. We didn’t have to look far to find him. He suddenly zoomed across our field of vision and settled in a tree about fifty yards ahead.

As we approached, he swooped off, but didn’t go far. Another swoop and he landed in another tree just ahead on our walking route and settled there. He was on a limb, maybe ten feet up, hanging over the sidewalk.

This time he let us get closer, closer…and then we walked right beneath him. He must have noticed us, but it didn’t bother him. He sat there and watched as we not only walked just a few feet below him but stopped to turn around and take pictures.

Have the hawks figured out that people who live in suburban areas aren’t really interested in harming the local wildlife?

(Click on the picture for a larger, clearer version.)

 

2024 Goals Assessment

Karen McCullough Posted on by

At the start of a new year, I like to look back and assess the goals I set for myself the previous year.

At the outset of 2024, my first goal for the year was to finish the fourth book in the Market Center Mysteries series, tentatively titled Unleashed for Murder. So… That didn’t work out. I stalled out at 50K words, stewed about it for a while and finally hung it up over the holidays. It will come up again in my goals for 2025.

I didn’t get into writing that second book, either.

Another goal from last year: “I’ve decided to give traditional publishing a try with Treadwell House – Sanctuary, since it’s in a genre (or actually a combination of genres) that is currently hot, with a number of current best-sellers. This will mean lots of queries and likely lots of rejections, but that’s par for the course. I’m giving it this year to see what happens.”

So, I did this. I sent out about 50 queries to agents and got some 30 rejections. A number of them never responded at all, but I did receive three requests for the full manuscript, which isn’t actually a bad response rate. All three agents passed on the full, but two of them gave helpful feedback. They said basically the same thing, and that echoed what another reader had said about the story, so I now know what the problem is with the book and how to fix it. Unfortunately the fix requires some extensive rewriting, but I like this story so much, I’m going to do it. I got a small start on it last year, but this, too, will come up again in my goals for 2025.

On the short story front, I wanted to write five new stories but ended up doing only three new ones. I also planned to submit at least five, which I did. In fact, I submitted six and ended up selling two of them. Three were rejected and one is still out.

Still working on the blogging regularly goal. I’ve been trying for two a week and was doing pretty well until we hit Thanksgiving. The holidays are always a hard time to keep up with anything writing-related, but this year I will try to keep up the two a week goal and have more in inventory. And the personal memoir hasn’t really moved forward much, so there’s that to work on, too.

All in all, not my best writing year, but not terrible either. Some success, some failure, more resolve to keep going.

Baking with the Grandchildren

Karen McCullough Posted on by

I love spending time doing things with my grandchildren. Playing games, walking, talking, even plotting stories are all activities we’ve enjoyed sharing. But one thing they always request and are eager to do is help bake something. Cookies, mostly, but sometimes cakes, breads, or rolls.

The reward at the end of the process provides at least some of the motivation for their interest, but they do also enjoy the measuring, stirring, and mixing as well.

Breaking eggs into the bowl is a skill I teach them.

One of my most treasured moments happened many years ago, when my oldest granddaughter was in grade school. She told me one day that she was working on a baking project with her class when the teacher asked if anyone knew how to crack an egg into the bowl without smashing it. Granddaughter volunteered, telling the teacher that her grandmother had taught her how to do it.  {Proud Grandma Moment}

Last summer when two of my grandchildren from England were visiting, we did the requisite batch of cookies, but the older of the two enjoyed it so much, she pitched in to help me make several other things, including some sweet breads and a big pot of soup for the family.

This holiday season included several baking sessions. We introduced my two-year-old great grandson to the fun of it. He helped in a couple of different ways. The pictures above on the left show him helping spoon flour through the cover into the mixing bowl.

He also helped us decorate sugar cookies, having a grand time sprinkling colored sugars over the unbaked shapes. We found a nice hack to let him have fun without the danger of his dumping the entire container of sugar onto the tray.

We took one of the empty bottles of colored sugar, with a sprinkler top, and put small amounts of the crystals into, letting him shake that over the cookies. He enjoyed it and we didn’t have to worry about two-inch mounds of sugar on each.

He shows signs of enjoying the process as much as my other grandchildren have.

Christmas, the Noise, the Chaos, the Joy

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I realize it’s been a while since my last post. The holidays aren’t conducive to keeping up with a blog, but I’m trying to get back in the rhythm!

It’s over now. The gifts have been unwrapped, the cookies have all been eaten, the guests have left, and quiet reigns in the house. I’m working on packing up the Christmas things, then I’ll do a thorough house cleaning.

The pictures and the memories remain.

It was a good Christmas, even a great Christmas. So many people gathered here. Both of my daughters and their husbands and children, some with significant others of their own. Only my son and his family were missing, but they live in England.

On Christmas morning, we had 17 people in our living room for a time.

They didn’t all stay for dinner since some of them had obligations to other sides of the family. Still, eleven were gathered around the dining room table.

I feel remarkably blessed that all three of my children have remained friends and get along well with each other, and their children seem to be following the same pattern.

We shared a number of thoughtful and delightful gifts, though as usual, and as it should be, the children got the lion’s share of the loot. My daughters handled a lot of the cooking and baking for the mega-breakfast and big dinner. Others pitched in to help with clean up and set up.

I’ll remember most the joy of the children at receiving some delightful gifts – things they wanted and things they didn’t know they wanted; the quiet conversations and the noisy ones; the occasional raucous laughter; some lovely church services with family; trying out the children’s new games with them and playing some old classics with the adults; and most of all the atmosphere of love and warmth that filled the house for a few days.

Practicing Gratitude

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It’s that time of year when we’re reminded o be grateful for all the gifts we’ve been given. It seems to me a great idea to stop and take time to bring to mind all the good things we have. But I prefer to try to practice gratitude year-round.

I approach it not as an emotion, but as an exercise. It’s something I do rather than something I feel. At least once a day I remind myself of the many good things I have. When I get down or am tempted to feel sorry for myself, I make it a point to bring to mind the positives in my life.

It isn’t always easy. My life isn’t all bunny rabbits and roses. I’ve had plenty of disappointments, personal and professional. I’m an author, writing fiction, which all but guarantees that there will be plenty of soul-crushing events. Rejections, bad reviews, publisher issues, poor sales—if you’re a writer trying to get published or stay published, you’ll have plenty of experience with these. However many stories you’ve had accepted, awards you’ve won, glowing reviews you’ve garnered, there will likely be more of the bad things. You can’t afford to dwell on them.

Among the many things I’ve been blessed with personally are a wonderful husband and a great family. Not that it’s always been smooth sailing. There’ve been crises, arguments, times when money was desperately short, some ugly health issues. I’ve had periods of depression and felt helpless at times. But my children have bloomed into wonderful people and they’ve provided many grandchildren that I adore.

I have a warm house, plenty of food on the table, transportation plus the freedom to go wherever I want, and decent health (despite some ups and downs, including Long Covid). Those are a lot more than many people in the world have. Compared to many I live like a queen.

And while I may not have any kind of bestseller status, I have had a number of books and stories published. I’ve won awards and been a finalist for quite a few more. I’ve had decent reviews on most of my books.

Wait… One of my books (Falling for the Deputy) actually was an Amazon bestseller in an obscure category for a couple of days while the book was on sale. Good enough. I’m grateful for it.

The Necessity of Being an Eclectic Writer

Karen McCullough Posted on by

At the end of November, I’ll have stories published in two different anthologies and those two stories are about as different as they could possibly be.

One is very short (42 words) and is included in the “Mystery” section of the 42 Squared anthology, though I’d call it more of a crime story, and a pretty cynical one at that.

The other is a Christmas story featuring several child-age ghosts and a suburban couple who lost a child of their own. I would call it a feel-good sort of story, the kind people love during the holiday season.

I’ve never been good at sticking to a particular genre or type of story. I’ve written romance, mystery, fantasy, paranormal, and romantic suspense stories over the course of my 20+ years of writing, and those range in tone from sweet and laid-back to taut and tense.

In these days, it’s not a good career move to write whatever your muse suggests (unless it keeps suggesting the same thing over and over). Consistency is the key to building readership, experts in publishing tell us. Give readers what they expect from you, based on stories they’ve read before. Not the same exact thing, but stories in the same genre, with similar themes and characters.

Readers do seem to love series, watching a few favorite characters grow and develop while meeting new challenges and reaching new goals. I understand because I like them, too. And I’ve written one series with the same central group of characters, The Market Center Mysteries. But I can’t do it all the time. My brain rebels and goes on strike because it wants to do new and different things.

To keep the words flowing, I try to vary my writing, doing a paranormal short story here, a fantasy novella there, and a different genre of novel between the ones in my mystery series. I’m slow to get series books out and my readers never know what to expect next, but I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to maintain my writing for as long as I have if I didn’t.

My Favorite Time of the Year

Karen McCullough Posted on by

All of the seasons have their good points—even winter, though admittedly it’s my least favorite. Of them all, Fall has my heart. In North Carolina, spring is great but lasts about three weeks before diving into summer. Summer heat and humidity wear out their welcome long before the season moves on.

Fall brings a welcome cooling trend, clearer, less humid air, beautiful swathes of color on the trees, a last burst of bloom from the roses, and, of course, the holidays.

Halloween and Thanksgiving are delightful, each in their own way. I’m not into dressing up myself, but I get a kick out of seeing the kids in their costumes. Our home’s location means we get quite a few Trick-or-Treaters. Plus, I love decorating for Halloween and fall. Orange and yellow leaf swags drape my mantel, sharing space with glittery pumpkins and a big batch of orange flowers.

Thanksgiving takes us to visiting family and time together as well as a meal replete with so many favorite foods. And we can all benefit from meditating on all the things we have to be grateful for.

Through it all, there’s preparations for Christmas. If you know me, you know I love Christmas. Decorating, baking cookies and other goodies, shopping for presents, even cleaning the house in anticipation of visitors all make me happy. For me, it really is “the most wonderful time of the year.”

Two Short Stories in November Anthologies

Karen McCullough Posted on by

(I don’t have final cover designs or order links for either yet)

Holiday Hijinks Series
Haunted Holidays		 42 Squared
42 Categories with 42-word Stories
“A Little Christmas Spirit” “Being in the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time”

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Holiday Hijinks – Haunted Holidays

A long-running series of themed holiday anthologies. This year the theme was Holiday Hauntings. I’m thrilled that my story, “A Little Christmas Spirit” was accepted. A woman who lost her own child helps the ghosts of other children celebrate the Christmas they never had. Due out November 29th.

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42 Anthology

I believe this anthology is due to release on November 24th. This is the wild idea: 42 categories of stories, each with 42 stories, each story exactly 42 words long. The titles are also exactly 42 characters. My short is in the Mystery category. In keeping with the spirit of the thing, here are the first 42 characters (excluding spaces): “After the truck hit its rear bumper at 40 miles per h”