September Summary

Summer’s gone – the warm breezes filling my writing room may well be the last gasp of summer. Not looking forward to this winter, based on predictions that it could be worse than the last one. Memories of that season are still too fresh in my mind.

I’ve been settling into my new location at work, getting acquainted with new faces and learning how to adapt to a slightly different work environment. Missing so many of my friends back up on the sixth floor though and it’s not as easy to grab a coffee or share lunch as I’d hoped.   Very glad then to have seen so many familiar faces Friday night at our company’s annual Gala and Rewards evening.  Several co-workers received well-deserved awards, among them two who won the top prize - a week long cruise later in January when all the annual convention winners world-wide assemble for a week of fun and sun aboard a luxury cruise ship in the Caribbean.

Pam and I had a Jamie Tremain day last Saturday, directing our focus to submit Body Perfect to another publisher. The publisher who’d had the manuscript for several months, decided against it a couple of months ago. C’est la vie.   So back on the submission trail we go.

During the summer months, both Pam and I suffered family losses and are regrouping in the aftermath.  It knocked us off our writing stride and it’s been an uphill climb to regain the rhythm, but we will persevere.  We’re certainly not unique in having major life events occur, and life still does go on.  Perhaps just a little differently.  For me, it’s meant not taking anything for granted, to live each day grateful for the blessings I enjoy, and to make a difference.

Getting back on the writing track took a big step forward last weekend.  After a morning of writing and planning, Pam and I enjoyed a lively lunch with fellow writers, Gloria Ferris and Donna Warner.  They both willingly share helpful advice and we had some laugh-filled brainstorming.  Another aspect to our meeting was discussing the desire we all have to develop a writing-related group to offer resources, advice and to promote other authors in the area. As well as sharing writing and publicity ideas.   We now have the fledgling beginnings of a group – more details to follow in the near future.  I’m quite excited about this venture.

Speaking of writing resources, Donna Warner’s blog offers great tips and advice – be sure to check it out.

And Jamie Tremain’s next interview will be posted later this month featuring Cathy Ace – fun lady and successful author of the Cait Morgan series.

I leave you with this gem from one of my favourite Twitter sites – Haggard Hawks Words   @HaggardHawks   -  A  quilicom is an utterly pointless or irrelevant matter raised in a conversation.       With municipal elections around the corner, this could come in handy!

Cheers!

Liz

A chat with Erika Chase

Today’s guest is Erika Chase. Oops I mean Linda Wiken. This talented writer was formerly a mystery bookstore owner in Ottawa. She uses the name Erika Chase to write the Ashton Corners Book club mysteries.        

Jamie:

 Welcome Linda to Jamie Tremain’s blog. Thanks for being here. Congratulations on your fourth book in the series.

You have a fantastic blog ‘Mystery Maven’.You post and invite others to bare their souls. Your reviews of other authors are always spot on. Is a blog essential to today's writer for their ‘platform’ or is this just something you like to do?

Linda:

Thank you! And the answer is, both. Part of the writing experience is promoting our works. Gone are the days of relying on publishers to do all of it, unless you’re a big name author, of course. So, along with launches, signings and readings, social media has become indispensable and along with Facebook, Twitter and those others I haven’t even started looking into, there are blogs. So many readers are now bloggers and reviewers and that’s great! It’s a boon to authors and we’re happy to be involved in the experience. However, I really enjoy wearing my other hat and being a blogger. I get to learn more about my colleagues and ‘meet’ readers, too!

  

Jamie:

Tell us about your work in progress. Has Lizzie Turner, your protagonist, used her sleuthing skills yet again or are you trying something different?

Linda:

Book #5, by Erika Chase, which is due on my editor’s computer at the end of this month, does involve Lizzie Turner and the Ashton Corners Mystery Readers and Cheese Straws Society. This time, they get a big surprise when Bob Miller’s long lost granddaughter turns up and confronts him. But that’s not the only surprise she has in store. And, you know there’s gotta be a murder, too!

As soon as that’s on its way, I’m starting a second series with Berkley Prime Crime, the Culinary Capers Mysteries. This series will be written by the real me – Linda Wiken.

Jamie:

Your mysteries are in the cozy genre. When running Prime Crime bookshop you had many genres to choose from. Why cozies?

Linda:

Although I do read a bit of everything, I mainly read for enjoyment. And there’s nothing more enjoyable and yes, cozy, than a traditional mystery. I like the sense of community, the puzzle and the chase a cozy provides.

I also watch TV and movies for enjoyment. If I want gritty and bleak, I read the newspapers. Real life provides enough of that.

Jamie:

'Ashton Corners' is located in Alabama. How did you find your voice to sound like those southern folk? Do you have connections there or do you rely on pure research?

Linda:

Talk about find a voice. I actually borrowed from the public library a set of tapes for actors who are working on accents. I love Southern accents and when I’m writing, I hear the dialogue in ‘Southern’.  Although, sadly, I’m not able to replicate it at readings. I’ve done a lot of research on the internet using various site,s and Google street view, too. I buy a couple of magazines from the South, each month. I read lots of books, mysteries and others set there. And, I have a couple of “sources”, one who lives there, one who used to live there. It all combines on the page.

Jamie:

Your first book,  A Killer Read, was nominated for an Agatha Award  for Best First novel in 2012. Tell us about that experience.

 Linda:

Incredible! I could not believe it when I got the phone call. There are so many cozies published each year in the U.S., and Malice Domestic has such a large attendance, I never even dreamed about a nomination. But wow, it was sure fun. They treat their nominees real nice and I have a lot of happy memories. Plus, it’s great incentive to keep writing!

Jamie:

Why a ‘nom de plume’? How was Erika Chase hatched?

Linda:

The idea for a book club series came from my editor at Berkley Prime Crime. This happens a lot at big publishing houses and they usually require their authors who write those series to use a pen name. I chose Erika in honour of my late father, Erik. Chase, because it’s near the beginning of the alphabet.

This new series, which was my idea, will therefore be under my real name. 

Jamie:

Writing, cooking, and music are big parts of your life – do you have other items on your “bucket list”?

Linda:

Travel! There are so many places overseas I’d love to visit. I adore old European towns and head to those parts in any city I visit. There are still so many countries I haven’t seen.

Jamie:

 

Speaking of cooking – if you could invite any author, living or dead, to a home cooked dinner, who would you invite and what would you serve?

Linda:

That’s easy. Alice Munro. I have most of her books and just love her use of words to share the lives of her characters. Everyone is important in her short stories. Every word counts.

What to serve is a different matter. My secret is that although I’m a foodie (I love books, magazines, TV shows about food), I’m not a very creative cook. But I think I’d go for something light, like a quinoa salad, grilled chicken breasts and also, while the BBQ is going, some veggies. And then again, if Alice Munro were coming, I’d stew about it for many days and end up changing my menu at the very last minute. It’s been known to happen!

Jamie:

Is collaborative writing something you would consider?

Linda:

I’ve never considered it so don’t really know if it’s for me. Except, if someone suggests it, I’d think seriously about it. I really admire those of you who are able to do that – to make the work read seamlessly and to remain on speaking terms!  I think of Victoria Abbott, Charles Todd, and Jamie Tremain of course.

Jamie:

Who is your favourite author and do you style your writing after anyone in particular?

Linda:

I don’t have a single favourite author when it comes to mysteries. There are so many I admire, truly. A lot of times it depends on the mood I’m in when reading. But I must admit, I do keep going back to Andrea Camilleri and Martin Walker, probably because of their settings!  I also try to read most of the Canadians and wouldn’t dare name a favourite for fear of…well, you know, we do write mysteries and know how to kill people.

I try not to style my writing after anyone however, I do read a lot of my colleagues in the Berkley Prime Crime cozy world who I think do it right. They’re inspiration.

Jamie:

Conferences, book signings and readings are all part of an author’s promotional role. Is this something you enjoy or are you itching to get back to the writing?

Linda:

Although it takes up a lot of time that should be spent writing, I really enjoy all of the promoting part. It’s fun to meet with other authors, to get to know readers and hopefully attract new ones, and to just take a break from the computer. But there’s always a part of me that wants to get back to the writing, and my brain keeps an eye out for anything that could be considered “research” at any event.

Linda/Erika at a recent book signing with the dynamic duo known as

Victoria Abbott.       

Thanks Linda for sharing your thoughts on Erika’s journey. We wish you well with your future books.

BIO

Erika writes the Ashton Corners Book Club mysteries for Penguin/Berkley Prime Crime.  In a parallel life Erika Chase is also known as Linda Wiken. A former mystery bookstore owner (Prime Crime Books in Ottawa, ON, Canada), Linda is also a short story writer. She is a member of those dangerous dames, The Ladies' Killing Circle.

Her short stories have appeared in the seven Ladies’ Killing Circle anthologies (three of which she co-edited), and in the magazines Mysterious Intent and Over My Dead Body. She has been short-listed for an Arthur Ellis Award, Best Short Story, from Crime Writers of Canada.

Before life in the world of mystery, she worked as an advertising copywriter, radio producer, journalist and community education worker.  Besides writing and reading mysteries, her other passion is choral singing and she is a member of two choirs.

Okay, maybe one more passion -- chocolate!

She shares her house with Keesha and Mojo, her two Siamese cats. Actually, they allow her to live there.

You can find Linda at   Erika Chase  and   Mystery Maven 
Canada


Talk soon,

Slainte,

Jamie

BLOG HOP

Good morning everyone,

Jamie Tremain has been invited to join a “Blog-Hop” that’s happening in cyber land. We will be answering four questions about the writing process. Many thanks to Linda Sundman Wiken AKA  Erika Chase who writes the Ashton Corners Book Club mysteries. You can find Linda @ http://www.erikachase.com/
 http://mysterymavencdn.blogspot.ca/ 

1)    How does our work differ from others of its genre.

Collaborators work to a different drummer than other writers who may tear their hair out in frustration when things go belly up. Liz and I as Jamie Tremain  are able to vent to each other and just one word can start the creative juices flowing. The same happens when we start the revision process and edit each others work. Collaborating doesn’t work for everyone. Our work differs from others only to the point of being two points of view ( Liz and mine) but when we write we write in the character’s voice.

  

   2)         What are we working on?  

We've just finished our third book called Death on the Alder. We’re taking a few weeks break from it and will start the revisions soon. This is my favourite part. Liz not so much. Getting the first draft finished can be nerve wracking  and we always look forward to writing The End. This book is a one off, we think, but we’ll leave it open until after the revision. Then it’s on to the second in the series with P.I. Dorothy Dennehy.

     Next is the synopsis writing and query letters. Sending to agents and publishers is time consuming but as necessary as the writing itself if you want to be published.

    3)    Why do we write what we do?
  
That’s an easy one. We write what we like to read. We like strong but quirky characters.Good plot lines with a few dead bodies thrown in for good measure. We both enjoy thrillers as well. Forensics in any form is right up Liz’s alley and I tend to read psychological suspense. Reading a variety of books in those genres helps us narrow down what we write.

   4)    How does our writing process work?

Our writing process is a hit and miss affair. Because there are two of us we like to be in agreement of what the other has written.   Most of our collaboration is done online but we do get together once a month to brainstorm and also to read out what we have written. This becomes really important during revisions.  We use Google Docs to write in real time so if we can’t get together we have long sessions hammering out the story.  It’s not for the faint of heart and you must leave your ego at the door. Trust in what the other is writing is also a big part of what we do.  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are happy to tag our friend from Houston , debut author Kay Kendall who writes
the Austin Starr mysteries. She will answer questions on her writing process and tag other bloggers.
You can contact Kay and visit her site Monday August 11th .

Kay Kendall set her debut novel, Desolation Row—An Austin Starr Mystery, in 1968. The Vietnam War backdrop illuminates reluctant courage and desperate love when a world teeters on chaos. Kay’s next mystery, Rainy Day Women (2015)finds amateur sleuth Austin Starr trying to prove a friend didn’t murder women’s liberation activists in Seattle and Vancouver. Kay is an award-winning international PR executive living in Texas with her Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Terribly allergic to bunnies, she loves them anyway! Her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan buff too.
 

Kay Kendall

Desolation Row—An Austin Starr Mystery (2013, Stairway Press, Seattle)

Rainy Day Women—An Austin Starr Mystery (spring 2015, Stairway Press, Seattle)

www.kaykendallauthor.com/

www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

@kaylee_kendall

Hope you're all enjoying the summer weather wherever you are. Look for our regular interviews with our favourite authors. Line up to be confirmed.

Talk soon,
Slainte,
Pam

Rainy Day Woman

Rainy Day Woman

  Welcome debut novelist Kay Kendall.

The launch of Kay’s first book ‘Desolation Row’ –Publisher/ Stairway Press- was a welcome insight into the life of the draft dodgers who landed in Toronto and other parts of the country in the middle sixties. Austin Starr, as an amateur sleuth, keeps us rooting to find the killer responsible for the murder her husband has been charged with.

Her Austin Starr mysteries are sure to find a place on the bookshelf of an aficionado of sixties culture and fans of Bob Dylan.  Her second book ‘Rainy Day Woman’ is due for

publication in 2015.

Deception, intrigue and authentic sixties nostalgia. Those who remember this turbulent time-gone-by will connect with the tension and conflict of the passionately anti-war generation that hoped to give peace a chance, but in this entertaining mystery, wound up with murder instead.

Hank Phillippi Ryan, award winning author of ‘The Other Woman’ and other bestselling novels -

Jamie:

Thanks for joining us today at Jamie Tremain’s blog. We first connected through Facebook and came face to face for a hug at the Bloody Words conference in Toronto. We all had a great time socializing and networking.

From the left--Pam, Gloria Ferris, Liz, and the Hyatt's resident hippie Kay Kendall.

As a retired public relations executive do you find the power of the Internet and social media has changed how we communicate for the better?

Kay:

The Internet and social media have brought a mixed bag of goodies to us. On the plus side, we can connect easily and cheaply with friends who are everywhere on the planet. We can make new friends, grow close, and never meet in person. Social media lets us do the communicating we used to do but makes it so much faster and to greater masses of people.

On the negative side, we are losing some capacity for interpersonal communication. Also our writing skills are not as, hmm, elegant, shall we say, as they used to be. Many digital books are not as carefully edited, for example, as print ones were, back in the day, even if that day was only fifteen years ago. For those of us who’ve grown up in a different world, without social media, I think we can cope quite nicely and retain the refinements of an earlier age. Anyone under twenty-five, just to pick an arbitrary number, doesn’t have the skills we older people do. Of course, as the young’uns like to point out, we don’t have their technical skills either. As I said, a mixed bag.

Jamie:

You hail from Kansas, now live in Houston, but lived for many years in Canada. Was the setting of your first book deliberate (Toronto)? Why not Dallas or another city in Canada? Do you have a connection to Toronto?

Kay:

When I moved to Canada from Kansas in 1968, I landed in Vancouver. Because I write fiction, I didn’t want to replicate my own experiences so I chose Toronto, where many draft resisters headed. I lived in Toronto from 1987 to 1990 so had firsthand experience with that terrific city. Also, I have friends who were at the University of Toronto in 1968 so was able to tap them for accurate historical detail about the city and the university at that time.

I plan to put my early memories of Dallas in my third book, one that will focus on a crime committed in the past, within Austin’s own family. My second book is set in Vancouver, and it does reflect some of my own experiences with a women’s liberation group at UBC in the late 1960s. Of course, I threw in a murder that needed to be solved. That is sheer fiction, fortunately.

Jamie:

Your picture on the book insert has you holding a cute bunny and I read that you have four house rabbits and a dog! There must be a story here. Please tell us how you happen to have these little guys running around your house? Do they curl up with you when you’re writing?

Kay:

Alas, our happy rabbit warren is down to only three bunnies now. One passed away of old age right after I returned from the fabulous Bloody Words conference in Toronto.

My husband and I began rescuing rabbits when dreadful neighbors threw out a baby bunny when they moved out after Easter in 1995. Many people buy tiny bunnies and chicks for their children for Easter and then abandon them to the wilds when they become burdensome. This little fellow fit in our hand and was so precious. In fact, that became his name—Precious. When he died at age five (late middle age for a rabbit), I was devastated. We got another bunny from a shelter and have been doing rabbit rescue ever since. The Houston-based organization BunnyBuddies.org provides us with support and many, many dear friends. The bunnies reside in my husband’s study as I have become allergic to them. Our spaniel King William, AKA Wills, does curl up at my feet when I am at the PC. He’s resting his chin on my foot as I write this.

Jamie:

You took Russian and Soviets studies during your time at Harvard.

I detect a theme in your future books?

Kay:

There are Russians in my debut mystery Desolation Row and in my work in progress Rainy Day Women. In fact, they are continuing characters in my Austin Starr mystery series. Austin is befriended by her Russian history professor, Dr. Klimenko, and his daughter Larissa. (Their family name of Klimenko comes from my first Russian teacher.)

The father and daughter sustain Austin in book one while her husband is in the infamous Don Jail in Toronto. In book two Larissa is a prime suspect in a murder in the Vancouver women’s movement, and so Austin rushes out to the West Coast to support her…and then becomes embroiled yet again in trying to solve a murder. She’s so wildly curious that she can’t help herself. She loves playing amateur sleuth.

I should also note that, since this is the Cold War period, Austin’s background includes some CIA training. That stopped when she went into exile in Canada with her draft-resisting husband David. The CIA was interested in Austin because of her knowledge of the Russian language and the Soviet Union and its history.

This background will play a huge part in book three, and I’m toying with the idea of a Cold War spy theme, inspired by the British spy author John le Carré. He is my all-time favorite author in the broad mystery category. So, you see, I have found a way to use my Russian studies in my fiction writing. I also have a dear friend in Houston who is Russian, and I’ve drawn on Irina for half my inspiration for the character of Larissa Klimenko, although at an earlier age. Larissa is actually a mash up with Irina and a dear childhood friend from Kansas.  

Jamie:

If you were on a desert island and could have one book, what would it be and why?

Kay:

Jane Eyre—if I had to pick just one. It and Doctor Zhivago are my favorite books of all time—well, also John le Carré’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. So, I’d take three books to that desert island if I could.

I consider both Charlotte Brontë’s and Boris Pasternak’s novels as romantic suspense. Le Carré’s spy novels provide endless mysteries and riddles to solve, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is the trickiest and best. I vividly recall reading each of these three for the first time. They had such an impact on me that I’ve read each more than twice, and I haven’t done that with any other novels. Here’s my motto—so many books, so little time—so why would I reread books? With these three special novels, I couldn’t help myself.

I first read these books between the ages of ten and thirty, and they resonate in me to this day. I’ve seen every film version of Jane Eyre and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and loved them all—some more than others of course—and the film of Doctor Zhivago is in my all-time top five. I’ve seen it three times, and I don’t usually repeat movies either. Again, I follow the so-little-time principle!

Jamie:

To write solo or work with a collaborator?

Kay:

I have only one experience with collaboration, and I enjoyed it tremendously. I worked with an Italian novelist in smoothing out the English translation of his novel from the Italian. We only worked by email, but it was such fun. I learned a lot and could have happily continued. However, I found that I couldn’t sustain my own writing and the collaboration at the same time. So I had to give up working with him.

Jamie:

Book signings, readings in libraries, conferences and book store appearances are all part of a published author’s day to promote their latest darling. Is this something you enjoy?

Kay:

 I love the networking and marketing and meeting readers so much that it’s easy to forget about the writing at the core of it all…which remains sitting alone in a room and facing an empty screen and throwing type up on it. For me, that is torture. Once I get past the first draft, then the rest is glorious.

Many writers are true introverts, and all they really want to do is sit at home in a quiet room and compose their stories. I meet authors like this at writers’ conferences, where they moan and say how shy they are, how they want to retreat to their hotel rooms. Many don’t like the marketing aspect either, but I can do that because of my former PR career. Really, any kind of communication is fine with me. I love it all. As long as I can connect with readers and talk about books, I am ecstatic.

Jamie:

What are you currently reading?

Kay:

Field Grey by Philip Kerr, the British author of nine historical mysteries featuring Bernie Gunther.

These unusual but thrilling and historically detailed books follow the life of a Berlin homicide detective from 1932 to 1954. During that time he is pushed by the Nazis to join the army and serve in capacities he loathes. He is captured by the Soviets at the end of World War II, then later the Americans. He’s seen the blackness of the souls of the great powers—British, French, Russian, American, and most of all his fellow Germans. Field Grey serves as an overview of Bernie’s tumultuous life. It has a neat twist at the end—I know that because I’ve read the end before finishing the whole book.

Yes, shortly after starting a book, I usually read the ending, a habit since childhood. It lets me slow down and savor each page, rather than racing to the end just to see “who done it.” I met the author Philip Kerr at a recent book signing in Houston, and since he and I agree on what to do about the current crisis in Ukraine, I think he is brilliant!

Jamie:

 Desolation Row, as mentioned, is set in the sixties – a turbulent time in the history of both Canada and America. Is there anything about that time period that you miss?

Kay:

This is the toughest question to answer. I was so young then, in the sixties, that everything seemed possible—for me, for the world. I’m wiser now, and see fewer real possibilities for positive change. What I do really miss is the slower and friendlier pace, plus there was much less commercialization of every aspect of our lives. That’s definitely what I miss the most.

Thanks, Kay, for sharing your writing life with us. We had such a good time hanging out with you, and others, at Bloody Words we hope it won't be long before we can meet up again.We wish you all the best with your future books and the publication of Rainy Day Woman.

BIO

Kay Kendall set her debut novel, Desolation Row—An Austin Starr Mystery, in 1968. Mysteries about World Wars I and II inspired her to use the Vietnam War to illuminate reluctant courage and desperate love when a world teeters on chaos. Kay’s work in progress is Rainy Day Women, when her amateur sleuth Austin Starr must prove her best friend didn’t murder women’s liberation activists in Seattle and Vancouver. Kay is an award-winning international PR executive living in Texas with her Canadian husband, three house rabbits, and spaniel Wills. Terribly allergic to bunnies, she loves them anyway! Her book titles show she’s a Bob Dylan buff too.

If you want to contact Kay here are some links.

https://www.facebook.com/KayKendallAuthor

http://www.stairwaypress.com/

Slainte,

Jamie