A small, life-changing thing?

A writer never knows what she writes that will influence a person--hopefully for all the right reasons.  And where do we get all these wonderful tidbits we share with readers?  Usually from real life.

Years ago my parents had a West Highland terrier who was a joy to walk.  Buddy had gone to obedience school twice. Um, he flunked the first time, but it couldn't have been by much, for he aced it the second time.  And the thing he learned best was how to walk.  That doesn't sound that difficult, does it, but it actually is.  How often do I see people supposedly walking their dogs who are either being dragged by them, or dragging them, or struggling just to control them while on their constitutionals? The answer to that is wayyyyy to often.

I would often take Buddy for a walk.  You didn't have to take a litter bag with you when you walked with Buddy.  He knew where he was to do his business--and that was at his own backyard.  When you came to a curb, he automatically sat down and waited for the "all clear" signal that it was safe to go on.  He trotted beside you with a smile on his doggy face and tail held high and wagging.  Is it any wonder that when I added a dog to the Booktown Mystery series that I would have him be as well trained?

As I wrote last week, I LOVE getting Christmas cards.  I also love to get those newsy Christmas letters from friends.  Sadly, I don't get as many as I used to get, but I thoroughly enjoy the ones I do get.  I got one on Friday, and added at the end were a couple of personalized paragraphs.  It said:

"As I was reading MURDER ON THE HALF SHELF, and noting the little Bichon would stop at the corners, I found myself remembering how I used to tell my dogs to "stop" and, surprise, they actually did.  Glad I saw that, because now I've begun trying to train my Bichon-Poodle mix and ten-year old shih-tzu to also stop at corners.  This is even more important to me since January, when my next-door neighbor and best friend was killed by a car about a block from home while she was walking two of her shih-tzus.  Thanks for the reminder."

I cried when I read that paragraph. First, for the loss of my friend's friend, and second, that something I wrote has caused her to train her dogs to sit and stay until it's safe to cross the street.

It's just such a little thing, but it made me glad that I write books.  That my words can touch people.  That in some small way I can make a difference.

Thank you, Karen.  You made my day.

Where are all the Christmas cards?

I admit it, I love Christmas cards.  In fact, I collect them.  Well, I collect VINTAGE Christmas cards and have about 50-60 of them.  Thanks to Pinterest, I now have an even bigger collection (spread out over several of my writing personas). 

I like cards from the 1950s.  It was such an innocent era.  (Well, we like to think that.  The WWII had ended, but Korea was in full swing, and there was the Cold War going on ... but let's think innocent.)

Most of my cards came from yard sales.  Usually when daughters were cleaning our their parents homes.  They bagged them up and I bought them. (I also have an entire box of assorted cards for every occasion that I got FOR THREE BUCKS!) I love them all!

Every year I hand the last Christmas card I got from my Granddad back in the 1980s.  It wasn't an expensive card, but it has his signagure on it and it says "with Love"  (sniff).

But so far this year I haven't received one Christmas card.  I'm so sad that that tradition seems to be going the way of the doh-doh.  I looked forward to the mail every day in December. Now people send virtual cards which, less face it, don't entail much effort at all.  Especially when all one has to do is gang a load of email addresses and shoot off one card with one message.

I've got my cards all ready to work on this week, and will feel sad that my wall of cards might only have a couple of it this year.

If you like vintage cards, they have reproductions on Amazon.  I'll be sending out a few of my vintage cards to a chosen few.

Will you be sending out Christmas cards this year?

Holiday stories to put you in a festive mood

Are you having a tough time getting into the holiday spirit?  Well, have I got some great holiday stories for you.  Okay, two of them are mine -- but a lot more are by my friends at the Incredible Indie Authors. (We're all traditionally published authors who have backlist and new titles available as ebooks.)

Mine are:

Bah! Humbug (which really won't make much sense unless you've just read my 4th Jeff Resnick mystery, Cheated by Death).  It’s Christmas Day, and Jeff and Maggie spend Christmas dinner with Maggie’s family, who are not receptive to her new significant other. It’ll be a Christmas to remember . . . but who wants to?

and

We're So Sorry, Uncle Albert:  The Nichols family finds that their stingy Uncle Albert, who’s been mooching off of the family for years, is actually quite wealthy.  Naturally they aren’t at all that happy about it and decide that Uncle Albert has overstayed his worldly welcome.  What to do?  They plot to get rid of him–just in time for Christmas.  It’s a jolly holiday all right!

Both are just 99 cents.  Such a deal!

They have a Facebook page (please LIKE us!), and a Pinterest account.  Here's the link to our Christmas stories (in many genres--and even a few audio books),and here's the link to our regular Pinterest page.

Please come and visit!
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Icing fever strikes!

Every couple of years I make cut-out cookies for Christmas. The reason I don't do it more often is because ... well, let's face it.  If you make it, you must eat it. If I didn't already need to lose (mumble, mumble) pounds, I'd go for it.

Pinterest is terrible.  It is.  There are hundreds and hundreds of pictures of cut-out cookies and dammit--I must repin and admire them over and over again. I was actually so inspired, I spent Sunday making cookie dough, and yesterday baking the cookies.

I lost my favorite recipe, so I often punt--and use an unfamiliar one.  I must stop this.  Next year (for I've already baked my cookies), I'm going to do more research to find the perfect recipe ... although, perhaps i won't have to look that far.

Thanks to Google, I found a great blog that walks you through decorating your cookies.  (And gives recipes and tips and stuff.)  OMG -- I could explore this site for days on end.  It's called The Sweet Adventures of Sugar Belle. Of course now that I have investigated the site I want to go out and buy all the things you need, like icing bottles, and have learned all kinds of new terms like 20-second icing and fill icing and icing bottles, etc. And that I should make icing 4 pounds at a time.

Will I ever have the talent to make gorgeous cookies?  Not unless I practice a whole lot and I won't do that because I would eat the cookies and gain more weight and ... it's a vicious cycle.  Maybe I should just BUY a cookie now and then.

Still, I've got 5 dozen uniced cookies in the freezer and must hit the craft store (which has a HUGE Wilton section), or maybe just Amazon.  After all, I have just under three weeks before Christmas to finish these cookies.  (Mostly stars.  I'm a star girl.)

Are you baking cookies this year?  If so, the Cozy Chicks Blog is going to hold a Cookie Exchange -- 7-8 (we haven't decided yet) of our favorite recipes to share.  It'll be Dec. 16-22.  Don't miss it!