KarenMusserNortman
  • Home
  • Frannie Shoemaker Mysteries
  • The Time Travel Trailer Series
  • Mystery Sisters
  • Karen's Blog
  • Large Print and Audible
  • The Newsroom
  • Coming Events
  • Borrow My Books-KU
  • Camping (when it isn't murder)
  • Giveaways and Stuff
  • About the Author

The Write Direction

11/7/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
A week ago, fifteen area authors gathered at our local library for our third annual Book Bums Writers' Workshop. The weather cooperated and didn't throw any early November snow storms at us like the first year. We covered topics ranging from character development to publishing and marketing. Lots of great questions were fielded by the panels and every one I talked to felt they picked up much useful information. And I picked up several books to add to my beside-the-chair stack for the winter. So I will be posting reviews of all of the authors over the next few weeks.

Picture
Mary Howard and I go way back. We went to church camp together and roomed together our junior year in college. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding. We've lost touch off and on through the years but then Mary called me and said she was going to be in Iowa City--did we want to meet for supper? Why was she going to be there? To read at Prairie Lights from her first book, Discovering the Body. I believe I was as excited as she was. It inspired me to take the plunge later into writing and publishing.

Picture
Mary's most recent book, The Girl with Wings, came out this year and was chosen the Great River Writers Retreat winner, gaining her a week at the Benet House in Rock Island, IL to work on her writing and an appearance to read from her work. This is a book with a gripping story, complex characters and relationships, and wonderful descriptions. Mary Howard has captured how our perceptions are often so limited by the constrictions of our experiences. The effects of the disappearance of a 6-week old baby on the parents, a schizophrenic grandmother, a nearing-forty woman with a first pregnancy, and several other interesting characters is so well done. Mary  has a M.A. in English/Creative Writing from Iowa State, where for seventeen years she was an academic advisor in the Art and Design Department.  She lives in Ames, Iowa.

Picture
Elaine Orr and I became friends after I published my first book. I noticed that it was frequently paired on its Amazon page with one called Any Port in a Storm, by Elaine Orr. Curiosity got the best of me and I downloaded it. It was actually the fourth book in Elaine's Jolie Gentil cozy mystery series. I enjoyed it immensely. The series takes place in the fictional town of Ocean Alley on the Jersey Shore where Jolie Gentil lives with her aunt Madge after a wrenching divorce. Jolie works as a house appraiser, which gets her into some dicey spots. The dialogue is great, the characters unique, and there is lots of humor. Unlike many cozy heroines, Jolie is very active in local fund raising as well. Pets are always popular in cozy mysteries, and I fell in love with Aunt Madge's two Golden Retrievers, Miss Piggy and Mr. Rogers.

After writing a review, I emailed Elaine to tell her how much I enjoyed it and we began to correspond. She was in the process of moving to Springfield, IL but had lived in Ottumwa, IA at one time. She does frequent workshop presentations so it was only natural that I invited her to our first workshop two years ago and we finally got to meet.


Picture
Elaine's latest book, From Newsprint to Footprints, is the start of a new series, the Rivers' Edge Mysteries. The locale is a fictional Des Moines River town in southern Iowa. Melanie Perkins is fired from her small town newspaper job and has to find other employment. She decides to use her gardening skills as a landscaper but "digs up" more than she planned. The murder of her former boss, Hal, puts her in prime suspect territory.

However, Melanie is not the only one Hal has clashed with, and Melanie puts her investigative reporter skills to work when she feels the law is not looking at anyone but her.  It becomes stickier as she wonders who to trust and how several possible suspects are connected. Life in this small town is turned on end before the crime is solved.

Elaine also has several books out about writing.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Some random thoughts about writing, camping, and eating.

    Archives

    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    January 2020
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly