DO YOU KNOW WHAT RHYMES WITH FRIDAY?

WINE!

If a writer really cares about their readers, they will conduct careful research on a given topic. Facts must be accurate. Unusual tidbits will make the story interesting. Whacky scenarios need be plausible (hence my attempt to outrun a bull across an open field, but that's another story for another day.)

ONLY THE SHADOW KNOWS...if Spring is Coming

   

 If you still believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, or that Carolyn Keene (author of the Nancy Drew mysteries) exists, then you might not be ready for the dose of reality I’m about to administer. If you want to flip over to play a game of mahjongg while the rest of us discuss this, that’s OK by me.

     Those of you still with me, you might want to sit down. 

     Is everyone ready?  Then here we go.

JAYNE'S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET

I thought I was alone in the world, carrying a deep dark secret. I wouldn’t admit it to anyone, this terrible, unforgivable thing I did. It started when I was a child, and has continued throughout my adult life (and that’s a pretty long time.)

Attending a conference when a well-known author asked if anyone else did this, I raised my hand. Actually raised it for all of the attendees to see! And so did a lot of other people! I wasn’t alone!

What is this terrible secret?

WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW! (Or Have at Least Researched)

Credit to Tom Watterson/Calvin and Hobbes

    

 The number one rule writers are taught in the hard-knock school of writing is “write what you know.” Which is all fine and good, unless you are a pushing-social-security-age, rule-following female who writes about murder. I am going to put this out there to all of my past, present and future readers, I HAVE NEVER KILLED ANYONE just to research a book (or for any reason, for that matter). Nor have I ever stumbled across a dead body lying in the garden or sitting in an empty garage or floating in the surf (my husband has, but that’s another story for another day.) The only dead bodies I have seen/touched have been prettified, with hair styled, dressed in their best Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes, lying in a casket.

But I will admit to having done a few things, all in the name of research.

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THE TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS--Coastal Style

 

’Tis the season for Christmas Carols, and parodies thereof.  Perhaps the most parodied song ever (seasonal or otherwise) is "The Twelve Days of Christmas".  Who amongst us hasn’t smiled when we heard the barking dogs’ version or the Redneck tune?  Today I offer up a slightly different version of my own making that represents beach life.  Feel free to sing along! 

On the first day of Christmas, I saw along the shore:
A lighthouse with a red door.
 
On the second day of Christmas, I saw long the shore:
Two fiddler crabs;
  And a lighthouse with a red door.
 

A WALK ON THE BEACH with Yours Truly!

It seems only fair if my fellow Mutt Mysteries authors reveal a little about themselves on this blog, that I do so, too! So, today I’ve “interviewed” myself. Read on to learn more about me, Jayne Ormerod, and a few of my favorite beach things. And a bonus at the end, in lieu of a bio I’ve included memories of my childhood Christmases. 

What’s your favorite beach to visit? Being a military spouse, I have spent most of my adult life living within a flip-flop’s throw of the ocean. (There was that two-year tour in Memphis, TN. Yes, the military has some offices in Millington. Go figure.) But since I’m not much of a sitter, I like a beach with some action, so I have to say the rocky shores along Easton Bay in Newport, RI. Cliff Walk makes for a fabulous stroll, with the water breaking below you and the ostentatious mansions on the other. My all-time favorite Cliff Walk experience was a snowy New Year’s Eve. We were the only ones crazy enough to be out there in that weather, and the icy snow made the rocky path very slippery. But it was absolutely magical.