#WriterWednesday Interview with Carol Preflatish

I’d like to welcome fellow Guppie, Carol Preflatish, to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

A few of your favorite things: coffee, Reese’s Cups, my cat.

Things you need to throw out: the recliner in my living room, an old artificial Christmas tree.

Things you need for your writing sessions: sweet tea or ice coffee.

Things that hamper your writing: people that interrupt me.

Things you never want to run out of: Diet Pepsi, chocolate, and coffee.

Things you wish you’d never bought: I have a few shirts I wish I hadn’t bought.

Favorite foods: anything Italian

Things that make you want to gag: avocados.

Favorite music or song: I love classic rock from the 70’s.

Music that drives you crazy: polka.

Favorite beverage: Margarita

Something that gives you a sour face: coffee without sugar.

Last best thing you ate: pepperoni pizza

Last thing you regret eating: a lot of birthday cake

The last thing you ordered online: books

The last thing you regret buying: I bought a toy for my cat that she will not play with.

Favorite places you’ve been: Great Smoky Mountains

Places you never want to go to again: Garden of the Gods in Illinois

Favorite books (or genre): My favorite book is Wild by Cheryl Strayed.

Books you wouldn’t buy: I usually don’t buy sci-fi books.

Things that make you happy: reading a good book and spending time with my grandsons.

Things that drive you crazy: not being able to find something to watch on television when I have so many streaming services.

About Carol:

Carol Preflatish, from southern Indiana, is the author of the Nathan Perry Mystery Series, as well as several romantic suspense novels, and two non-fiction books. When she’s not writing, she loves to read, watch Indianapolis Colts football, and do just about anything outdoors. 

 An avid photographer, Carol has had many photos published in her local newspaper, as well as in “Golf Journal,” the official publication of the United States Golf Association. A few little-known facts about Carol are that she’s a licensed amateur radio operator, and is a collector of celebrity autographs, stamps, and coins.

Carol is a member of Sisters in Crime, SinC's Guppies chapter, and the Louisville, Kentucky SinC chapter.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: http://www.carolpre.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/AuthorCarolPreflatish

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/CarolPreflatish

Amazon Author page: https://www.amazon.com/author/carolpre

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4957220.Carol_Preflatish

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carol_pre/

Linked-In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolpreflatish/

Book Links:

Amazon - https://amzn.to/3H6oArD

B&N - https://bit.ly/3p6fK77

Kobo - https://bit.ly/3sj6E9b

iTunes - https://apple.co/3s8bSEh

40 Detectives and Sleuths You Need to Add to Your TBR List

I love mysteries and suspense. Here is my list of 40 detectives/sleuths you need to add to your To Be Read (TBR) stack. They’re not in any particular order, but all are worth a read!

1. Chief Inspector Adam Dalgliesh – P.D. James

2. Chief Inspector Armand Gamache - Louise Penny

3. Sherlock Holmes - Arthur Conan Doyle

4. Miss Marple - Agatha Christie

5. Sam Spade - Dashiell Hammett

6. Hercule Poirot - Agatha Christie

7. Father Brown – G.K. Chesterton

8. Philip Marlow - Raymond Chandler

9. C. Auguste Dupin – Edgar Allan Poe

10. Jack Reacher - Lee Child

11. Stephanie Plum - Janet Evanovich

12. V. I. Warshawski – Sara Paretsky

13. Lord Peter Wimsey - Dorothy L. Sayers

14. Harry Bosch - Michael Connelly

15. Maggie Crozat - Ellen Bryon

16. Poppy McAllister - Libby Klein

17. Detective Mike Cancini - K. L. Murphy

18. Everly Swan - Bree Baker

19. Vera Stanhope - Ann Cleeves

20. Misty Murphy - Diane Kelly

21. Andi Grace - Jackie Layton

22. Suzanne Dietz - Laura Childs

23. Finlay Donovan - Elle Cosimano

24. Anna Pigeon - Nevada Barr

25. Mia Carina - Maria DiRico

26. Whitney Whitaker - Diane Kelly

27. Mimi Lee - Jennifer Chow

28. Dayna Anderson - Kellye Garrett

29. Sarah Winston - Sherry Harris

30. Marygene Brown - Kate Young

31. Carmela Bertrand - Laura Childs

32. Chloe Jackson - Sherry Harris

33. Mimi Lee - Jennifer Chow

34. Elvis Cole - Robert Crais

35. Spenser - Robert B. Parker

36. Sean King and Michelle Maxwell - David Baldacci

37. Sally (Sal) Muccio - Cathryn Bruns

38. Nichelle Clarke - Lyndee Walker

39. Kate O’Hare - Janet Evanovich

40. John Puller - David Baldacci

Who would you add to my list?

#ThisorThatThursday Author Interview with Smita Harish Jain

I’d like to welcome my fellow Virginia is for Mysteries author, Smita Harish Jain, to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

A few of your favorite things: My kids, my cats, chocolate

Things you need to throw out: Essays I wrote in junior high school

Things you need for your writing sessions: One cup of coffee, two cats, complete quiet

Things that hamper your writing: The Internet, the Internet, the Internet

Things you love about writing: Telling stories, research, connecting with readers

Things you hate about writing: Deadlines, imposter syndrome, rejection

Favorite beverage: “Toddler coffee” (one cup of half-caff mixed with one cup of chocolate milk)

Something that gives you a sour face: Brussel sprouts

Last best thing you ate: A triple-layer chocolate fudge cake.

Last thing you regret eating: A grape, dark chocolate, and almond bar that sounded better than it tasted.

The last thing you ordered online: An Apple Pencil – now I can handwrite drafts more easily, which I sometimes like to do.

The last thing you regret buying: Yet another purse I’ll never use.

Things you always put in your stories: A twist.

Things you never put in your stories: Deus ex machina.

Things to say to an author: I love everything you write!

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: I could write, too, if I didn’t have a partner/kids/job/life …

Favorite books (or genre): Crime fiction (mystery, thriller, suspense)

Books you wouldn’t buy: Advice books from people who haven’t reached a certain age.

Most daring thing you’ve ever done: Spelunking

Something you chickened out from doing: Skydiving

About Smita:

Smita Harish Jain has short stories in several anthologies and magazines, including Mystery Writers of America, Akashic Noir, Chesapeake Crimes, Virginia is for Mysteries, and Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and several more coming out in 2022. When she’s not writing, she’s a university professor of communications and negotiation. She is a member of the Chesapeake and Central Virginia chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Guppies, Crime Writers of Color, and the Short Mystery Fiction Society.

#WriterWednesday Interview with Millicent Eidson

I’d like to welcome my fellow Guppy, Millicent Eidson, to the blog today for #WriterWednesday!

Favorite things to do when you have free time: Workshop with my fellow authors and take writing classes. Go for walks, take photos, and work out on gym weight machines.

The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to do list: Nothing. I’m a fanatic about getting everything done early so it’s not weighing on me.

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave: Music (usually classical without words to avoid interrupting the writing) and diluted cranberry juice.

Things that distract you from writing: Not much, I’m fairly focused.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Marketing.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Editing my drafts. It’s fun to polish the diamonds and see them shine.

The coolest thing you’ve bought online: Dark chocolate in volume—I’m addicted.

Something you’re really good at: Writing the first draft, but the third novel about coronavirus has been tough, recreating what the scientists knew when.

Something you’re really bad at: Taking the plunge to spend money on advertising.

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: A dancer or an actor.

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: Being a Mom, achieved through adoption of an abandoned infant in China, and creating a fictional heroine in her honor.

Something you wish you could do: I’m counting the days until local COVID rates are low enough to restart volunteer teaching with little kids.

Last best thing you ate: Any cake from Mirabelle’s, a miracle bakery in Vermont.

Things to say to an author: Can we talk about your book?

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: You spent a huge amount of time on the writing workshop edits I requested, but I’m not going to use them—my publisher won’t care about minor things like head-hopping.

Favorite places you’ve been: Growing up in the Southwest was the best—that’s why it dominates the initial novels in my mystery series. But my main character heads off to other locations I’ve enjoyed, including London, Norway, Portugal, Morocco, and China.

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): Tess Gerritsen, medical thriller and romantic suspense author.

Most embarrassing moment: A panic attack during a guest talk and I lost my voice.

The funniest thing that happened to you on vacation: In an Australian national park, a cockatoo landed on my husband’s shoulder and tried to bite off his mustache.

Proudest moment: Being chosen by my peers for the 2013 American Veterinary Medical Association Public Service Award.

The most exciting thing about your writing life: Bringing public health and mysterious microbes to life through compelling characters.

About Millicent:

Millicent Eidson is the author of the alphabetical Maya Maguire microbial mystery series. The MayaVerse at https://drmayamaguire.com includes prequels, “El Chinche” in Danse Macabre and “What’s Within” in Fiction on the Web, and a side story, “Pérdida” in El Portal Literary Journal. Author awards include Best Play in Synkroniciti and Honorable Mention from the Arizona Mystery Writers.

Dr. Eidson’s work as a public health veterinarian and epidemiologist began with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and continued at the New Mexico and New York state health departments. She is a public health faculty member at the University at Albany and the University of Vermont, and secretary for the Burlington Writers Workshop https://burlingtonwritersworkshop.com/ .

Let’s Be Social:

Amazon.com: Millicent Eidson: Books, Biography, Blog, Audiobooks, Kindle

 Millicent Eidson (Author of Anthracis) | Goodreads

 (1) Millicent Eidson (@EidsonMillicent) / Twitter

 Millie Eidson (@drmayamaguire) • Instagram photos and videos

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/eidsonmillicent/

Book Links:

Millicent Eidson (books2read.com)

Anthracis: A Microbial Mystery a book by Millicent Eidson (bookshop.org)

Anthracis: A Microbial Mystery (MayaVerse Book 1) - Kindle edition by Eidson, Millicent. Romance Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.

Anthracis: A Microbial Mystery eBook by Millicent Eidson - 9781955481014 | Rakuten Kobo United States

Anthracis: A Microbial Mystery by Millicent Eidson, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)

Monuments: A Ten-Minute Play by Millicent Eidson | NOOK Book (eBook) | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)

About the Book:

Anthracis is the debut novel in an alphabetical series featuring Maya Maguire, medical detective, in her journey as an Asian American veterinarian solving microbial mysteries.

The spectacular southwestern desert is alive with Bacillus anthracis spores, and the summer is the hottest on record. As a new veterinary epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Maya Maguire confronts the largest, most complex anthrax outbreak in U.S. history.

Infections in persons of color and immigration activists resonate with Maya’s search, as a Chinese American adoptee, for a place in her American home. Younger than her fellow trainees and battling panic disorder from a horrific childhood accident, she struggles to solve an epidemic mystery in a physician-dominated public health world. From her home base in New Mexico, CDC sends her to join a federal team in Arizona, including provocative physician Dr. Manolo Miranda and tightlipped veterinarian Dr. Dave Schwartz.

The epidemic is linked to climate change—that’s the party line. But Homeland Security agents and the FBI are suspicious. Dave’s an anthrax expert and spores match his home Texas Triangle of Death.

An invisible enemy, team secrets, and romantic missteps may derail Maya’s confidence. If she can’t find the source, thousands could perish from anthrax-laced heroin and tainted milk. Anthracis takes us to the front lines with scientists betting their lives and relationships on the investigation outcome.

Praise for the Books of Millicent Eidson

“Dr. Eidson's medical thriller serves up unique and carefully drawn characters, fascinating and chillingly realistic threats, and enough Happily For Now resolutions to satisfy any women's fiction or romantic suspense fan. You won't want to miss this new entrant into the genre. I hope the author is busy writing the next book in this engaging series.” – Barbara Hinskey, USA Today Bestselling Author of Paws & Pastries

“Anthracis is one of those books that come out of left field and grab your attention so fast you've read chapters before reality interrupts. Don't let the scientific title put you off, this is a top-rate thriller with endless twists and even more captivating surprises!” – Ingrid Foster, author of My Father’s Magic: An Esme Bohlin Novel

“This medical thriller takes the stakes to new heights because of the NUMBER of lives affected.” – Donna Van Braswell, author of Daughter of the Ancients

“Synkroniciti is thrilled to award our first ever short play award to Dr. Millicent Eidson for her delightfully quirky and thought-provoking play Monuments . . . By turns funny, poignant and eye-opening, Monuments presents us with nuanced and three-dimensional characters rather than stereotypes.” – Synkroniciti.

What I Learned from My Favorite Characters

We celebrated National Read Across America Day and Dr. Seuss’s birthday this week. Here’s what I’ve learned from some of my favorite characters through the years.

Charlotte and Wilbur - Everyone needs friends. Treasure the special relationships. Writing is a solitary venture. Make sure you have a crew to share celebrations and road bumps with.

Charlie Brown and Snoopy - Everyone needs a sidekick. Our pets are our family, and they are our special protectors, comforters, and friends.

Nancy Drew - The girl sleuth had a car, good friends, and the curiosity to solve problems that adults couldn’t. Always be curious and ask questions.

Hermione Granger - Study hard and learn your craft. Do your homework. Hard work pays off.

Stephanie Plum - Perseverance is necessary. You may not succeed at something during the first (or the fifth) attempt but keep at it. This is especially true if you’re on a writing journey.

Grover (from the Monster at the End of the Book) - It’s okay to be a little scared sometimes, but often you’ll find that the thing you’re scared of isn’t as bad as you imagine it.

Sam-I-Am - It’s always a good idea to try new things. Be open minded and give new and “strange” a chance. You may find out that you just might like it.

#ThisorThatThursday Interview with Maggie King

I’d like to welcome Maggie King back to the blog for #ThisorThatThursday!

Favorite thing to do when you have free time: Sit on the porch and get lost in a mystery.

The thing you’ll always move to the bottom of your to do list: Cleaning out closets, drawers, and cabinets, especially if installing shelf paper is involved.

Things you need when you’re in your writing cave: Pen, paper, computer, good light, cat (but not on the keyboard!), and QUIET.

Things that distract you from writing: Lawn mowers, leaf blowers, noise, and my own need to find excuses for not writing.

Hardest thing about being a writer: Developing creative ideas into a story worth telling.

Easiest thing about being a writer: Coming up with creative ideas in the first place.

The coolest thing you’ve bought online: iPads. I’m absolutely tethered to mine. Glen still prefers his laptop and phone.

The thing you wished you’d never bought: A set of long and skinny measuring spoons that, per the ad, can slide right into spice jars. They do slide into spice jars, but not all the sizes fit into the square spice tins. As I typically purchase store brands, most of my spices are in the tins. So the spoons are semi-useful, but not worth the $15 price.

Something you wanted to be when you were a kid: An actor, then a nurse, then an English teacher. I did none of those things. I was a retail sales manager, a customer service supervisor, a programmer analyst, and a non-profit administrator.

Something you do that you never dreamed you’d do: Public speaking.

Something you wish you could do: Be a rock star.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: Clean toilets.

Last best thing you ate: Linguine with marinara sauce.

Last thing you regret eating: An omelette with liver. I was traveling in Europe and recklessly ordered from a non-English menu. Traveling is all about adventure, right?

Things to say to an author: “When’s your next book coming out? I can hardly wait!”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book:

New acquaintance: “So what do you do?”

Me: “I’m a mystery writer.”

NA: “Really? Do you know so-and-so? I just love him.” Hand over heart, swoons.

Me: “No, I haven’t had the pleasure.”

NA: stabs at her phone several times before thrusting it at me. “You really have to read him.” Takes back phone. “Well, nice meeting you. Gotta run.”

People you’d like to invite to dinner (living): Jimmy Carter, Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Sara Paretsky, Louise Penny, Reese Witherspoon.

People you’d cancel dinner on: Dictators and dictator-wannabes (wouldn’t even have accepted their invites).

Best thing you’ve ever done: Marrying my True Love.

Biggest mistake: Turning down the permanent IT job at UVA (not that big a mistake).

The funniest thing to happen to you: One day I arrived at work wearing different colored shoes. I had two pairs of the same shoe style, one black, the other tan. I had to get to work very early and was always in a rush.

The most embarrassing thing to happen to you: It was the end of junior year of high school. My friend Marianne and I went to Howard Johnson’s, a popular hangout at the time. Brian Vitale stood in line waiting for a booth. Marianne and I went to the ladies’ room, where I went on and on about how cute Brian Vitale was, how I wanted to go out with him, yada, yada. A girl came out of a stall, washed her hands, and left. Marianne said, “I’m not sure, but I think she’s Brian Vitale’s girlfriend.” “Let’s hope not,” I said with a feeling of dread.

A glance at the line told us all we needed to know: Brian and the girl holding hands. We ducked into a booth that had just been vacated, hoping no one would notice. No such luck. The host shooed us away, and I slunk by BV and his lady love.

Thankfully, he had just graduated and I never saw him, or her, again.

The nicest thing a reader said to you: A woman at church approached me, a copy of Murder at the Moonshine Inn in hand. She opened the book to her favorite character description: “Her eyes looked like she’d wrung the blue color out of them.”

The craziest thing a reader said to you: I published my first short story in January of 2014 and my first full-length mystery in December, 2014 (a “book-ended” year). Most of my friends read the short story and looked forward to the novel. But one informed me that she would wait for the novel, as she didn’t read short stories. She was quite adamant about it.

About Maggie:

Maggie King is the author of the Hazel Rose Book Group mysteries, including the recently-released Laughing Can Kill You. Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Deadly Southern Charm, Death by Cupcake, and Murder by the Glass. Her story “The Last Laugh” appears in Virginia is for Mysteries III.

Maggie is a member of James River Writers, International Thriller Writers, Short Mystery Fiction Society, and is a founding member of Sisters in Crime Central Virginia, where she manages the chapter’s Instagram account. In addition, she serves Sisters in Crime on the national level as a member of the Social Media team. Maggie graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a B.S. degree in Business Administration, and has worked as a software developer, customer service supervisor, and retail sales manager. She lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband, Glen, and cats, Morris and Olive.

Let’s Be Social:

Website: http://www.maggieking.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaggieKingAuthor

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authormaggieking/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MaggieKingAuthr

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4758759.Maggie_King

BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/maggie-king

#WriterWednesday Interview with Kerry Cox

I ‘d like to welcome back author, Kerry Cox, to the blog for #WriterWednesday!

Things you need for your writing sessions: Gipsy Kings on shuffle. Two uninterrupted hours (almost never happens). Beer helps.

Things that hamper your writing: Too many cats. Really good weather. Household chores.

Things you love about writing: The rewrite phase where I’m going sentence by sentence, trimming, tweaking, finding the right verb, making dialog real.

Things you hate about writing: I wish it didn’t involve so much sitting.

Hardest thing about being a writer: By far, the fact that we have to be responsible for so much of our own marketing,

Easiest thing about being a writer: The actual writing. That part comes easy.

Something you’re really good at: Landscaping, especially stone work. I love working with stone.

Something you’re really bad at: Astrophysics. Never got the hang of it.

Something you wish you could do: Speak multiple languages.

Something you wish you’d never learned to do: I never regret learning anything.

Something you like to do: I’m physically active, and play a variety of sports. I’ll play damn near anything if there’s a ball and a score involved.

Something you wish you’d never done: Ice skate. That was a humiliating experience I could easily have lived without.

Last best thing you ate: My own recipe for sweet/hot chicken wings, done in an air fryer, crispy and delicious.

Last thing you regret eating: Panda Express. That didn’t end well.

Things you always put in your books: Sharply drawn, realistic characters. That’s the goal, anyway.

Things you never put in your books: Dream sequences. I hate reading them, so I don’t write them.

Things to say to an author: “I couldn’t put it down.”

Things to say to an author if you want to be fictionally killed off in their next book: “I don’t buy books, I just get them at the library.”

Favorite places you’ve been: Too many to mention, all here in the U.S. Other than Mexico and Costa Rica, I’ve never been out of the country.

Places you never want to go to again: Florida. ‘Nuff said.

Favorite books (or genre): Favorite genre is crime fiction, but my favorite book of all time is “A Confederacy of Dunces,” by John Kennedy Toole.

Books you wouldn’t buy: Fantasy. Romance. And there is a handful of very successful crime fiction/thriller writers who, in my opinion, are unreadable. But what do I know, they’re the ones in the airport bookstore racks, not me.

The coolest person you’ve ever met: I’ve worked with a number of celebrities in the course of my career as a TV advertising scriptwriter. The nicest, most down-to-earth was Alex Trebek. Marie Osmond would come in a close second. Just a sweetheart of a guy.

The celebrity who didn’t look like he/she did in pictures/video: Marisa Tomei.

Let’s Be Social:

https://kerrykcox.com

Kerry Cox | Facebook

(3) Walkingbird Creative (@WalkingbirdKC) / Twitter

Details Do Matter - Tips for Authors

Many times, you only get one shot at querying an agent or a publisher. Make sure you have done everything you possibly can to make your submission and correspondence as polished as they can be. Formatting problems make your work look unprofessional.

Emails/Query Forms

• Make sure all names and titles are spelled correctly.

• Verify that the email address is correct.

• Verify that the name on the query matches the person you’re sending it to.

• Keep a list of the agents/agencies you query, the date sent, and any response.

• Follow all submission requirements.

Manuscript

• Follow standard formatting rules.

• If not specified, use Times New Roman 12 point (black). Don’t use multiple fonts or fancy types or colors.

• Make sure you have a cover page.

• Margins need to be one inch on all sides.

• Put the page number and the author’s last name in the footer.

• You need a cover page with your title, word count, and contact information. The page numbering should start on the first page of your manuscript (not the cover page).

• Most agents/publishers want manuscripts that are formatted for an automatic tab indent for each new paragraph (instead of using the tab key each time or the space bar).

• Don’t use the return/enter key to move to the next page. Add a hard return (Usually Control + Enter).

• Use only one space after all punctuation.

• For American writers, end punction (commas and periods) go inside the quotation marks.

• Make sure your work has been edited and proofed before you submit it. Print it out and do one last check before you send it.

The little things do matter and show that you’ve invested the time to make your work the best it can be. If you have formatting issues with your word processor, there are lots of good how-to videos on YouTube or the Microsoft Help site for Word.