A WRITER'S CHRISTMAS LIST, by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer

  

Aside from the usual things—peace on Earth, a lottery win, a pony (that’s a hold-out from when I was a little girl)—all I want for Christmas are:

 

AUTHOR EVENTS.

I used to get so nervous before a book event that I’d swear I’d never do one again. Now I miss them like crazy.

BOOKSTORES.

Remember back when we could go to a real live bookstore? See our books placed lovingly on the shelves?

CONFERENCES.

From Pop Cats to the Cat Writers Association Conference to the Las Vegas Star Trek convention, 2020 was cancelled and it looks like 2021 may not be much better. I can’t wait until it’s safe to go out again. Besides the joy and vivacity of the various events, I love staying in hotels and ordering room service.

EXERCISE.

OMC! Did I say the E-word? I’ve never been the one to go to the gym or play sports, but BC (before Covid) I got a certain amount of exercise in my daily life. Now my biggest exertion is moving from screen to screen—laptop, computer, TV, phone. I don’t have the desire or discipline to do pushups with Richard Simmons, but if I don’t get going, I fear I’ll turn into Jaba the Hut.

FELLOWSHIPS.

Zoom is great! I don’t have to dress or brush my teeth. I can even set a background so my associates think I’m in Hawaii or the Louvre instead of my messy office. But online chats will never replace in person events, no matter how hard everyone tries.

MEETINGS.

I belong to several writers’ and other groups that hold regular meetings, at least they did BC. Some have moved to Zoom, but others have fallen by the wayside. Hopefully when this is all over, those groups can move forward again. We’ve lost so much during this pandemic, but I have high hopes for people’s enthusiasm about what comes next.

NEW IDEAS.

You’d think working on four books would be enough to keep me busy, and it is, but all four are in various stages of editing. I have nothing new to wrap my head around, which may be for the best since my head isn’t working all that well these days.

PRESENTATIONS.

Another in-person event put on hold, presentations, both mine and other people’s, were one of my favorite pastimes. I’ve done a couple of them on Zoom but felt such distance from my little audience of squares, I preformed poorly. Sorry about that.

REVIEWS.

I know people are reading. What else do we have to do (besides Netflix and Amazon shopping?) so why aren’t I seeing a rise in book reviews? Maybe everyone’s stunned into silence by the current events. I know I am.

SLEEP.

I don’t know about you, but my sleep cycle is all messed up. I’m awake half the night, then dog-tired after lunch. What I wouldn’t give for a good night’s sleep where not a creature is stirring not even a cat—I mean, mouse.

What’s on you Writer’s Christmas List this year?

RESEARCH and YOUR TV, by Mollie Hunt, Cat Writer

Television- the seductive mind-suck that most of us find ourselves indulging in on a daily basis. Couch potato? Not me. 

I'm a writer, so for me, watching TV is a form of research. I write fiction, so when I view Midsomer Murders, Miss Marple, or Murder She Wrote, it stokes the fires of my cozy imagination. Doctor Who, Star Trek, Angels and Demons, and Gormenghast serve as flights of fancy to inspire my sci- fantasy series. Though I don't write police procedurals or thrillers, a well-composed series like True Detective, Bosch, or Unforgotten is useful. Even the old standbys like NCIS have something to offer. 

For an added bonus, turn on closed captioning as an insight into how to write realistic conversation and dialog. 

But... 

There is a bit if translation necessary to make these inspirations my own. Though Perry Mason may be the go-to lawyer show, a lot has changed since 1970. Unless I'm writing a retro thriller, I'll need to get more information from other sources. And though Agatha Christie may be the queen of mystery, her solutions might not work in today's society. 

Yes, television is a righteous research tool, but I must not get so wrapped up in their story as to lose sight of mine. 

Here's a little exercise: Pause whatever you're watching, and write a paragraph about the scene. Use colors, patterns, sound and sense as well as conversation. Read it back to yourself. Could a reader envision the scenario? Have you made it your own? 

Besides the shows I mentioned, here are some others that have inspired me: 

Torchwood

Stargate 

The Orville 

The Hobbit (not lotr) 

Blade  Runner 

Laura 

Gotham 

Father Brown 

Murdoch Mysteries 

Brokenwood Mysteries 

The Bridge/Bron 

Inspector Morse/Inspector Lewis/Endeavor

Shetland

Conan the Barbarian (original Arnie version)

Mystery Road

Glitch season 1

The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes/Sherlock

Anything with David Tennant except the ones about serial killers 

One last comment: I am writing this on my phone. I do not recommend it.

New Release -- The Case of the Vanishing Chef (A P.I. Berger Mystery Book 2) by Harol Marshall #FemaleSleuth #MysteryNovel

When Cinda Mae Bradbury, former stripper turned restaurateur, asks Hollywood P.I. Polly Berger to find her missing chef, Polly ends up tracking down a murderer instead. Is a “killer” mole poblano recipe enough to murder someone for? Cinda Mae believes someone kidnapped her chef, Henry, but L.A. Detective Johnny Birdwhistle thinks Henry could be on the run after murdering his competitor.

Polly’s caught in the middle—trying to stay alive long enough to solve the case one way or the other. Throw a gun-wielding brother-in-law in search of Polly’s twin sister in the mix, and another murder is imminent!

When Polly’s sister is kidnapped, Polly understands that family is more important than she ever realized before—and she’ll do anything to protect Franny. But to save her sister, she’s got to solve THE CASE OF THE VANISHING CHEF!

EXCERPT

     When my part-time secretary Bernardo 'Bunny' Contreras, ambled into my private office in Hollywood and closed the door behind him it meant one thing. It used to mean two things, but based on the current state of our relationship a new client must have walked in our front door—a prosperous client, I hoped, because the balance sheet of my firm, Berger Investigations, Inc., read Red with a capital R.

     My name is Pauline Isabel Berger, which makes me a P.I. by name, as well as by trade, and I’ve been in business going on three years. My offices are located in 'Tinsel Town,' seven blocks from the intersection of Hollywood and Vine, which puts us on the wrong side of the tracks, but the right side of the law.  

     In addition to working for me, Bunny is also my karate instructor and swing dance partner. On weekends he earns his chops as a standup comic, which is why he only works for me part-time. At the age of twenty-six he's twelve years my junior. Well, twelve years I admit to.

     I looked up to see Bunny leaning against the frame of my office door grinning his lop-sided grin. "You'll never guess who's here." My heart sank.

     "Do I wanna know?" I hadn’t meant to sound so grouchy, but Mondays are not my favorite day.

      "Y'all might," he drawled.

     I interpreted his drawl to mean the visitor waiting in the outer office was our previous client, one Cinda Mae Bradbury, former stripper turned restaurateur.

     "Okay, fill me in. Bun. How long's it been anyway?"

     "Coupla weeks. Enough time for her to finish shutting down The CatWalk and open La Gringa's, and I quote, ‘the best Mexican food west of east L.A.' She's been open for two weeks but you've kept me so busy running errands for the shyster frats, I haven't had time to give it a try. Wanna go there for lunch?"

     "Depends on whether I have an appetite after we meet. Show her in." I took a deep breath preparing to face my client whose murdered husband almost led to my own death, though not by her.