Writers Police Academy 2018

Another Writers’ Police Academy is over.  Every time I go, I get something different.  A lot of the attendees seem most interested in the opportunities to shoot, and drive police cars.  Not me.  I am more interested in people. I’m curious about the personalities of first responders and killers.  This year I got insight on both along with learning how to put a tourniquet on me, how spaghetti can be deadly, how a prosecutor thinks, how to tell is a suspect is lying, and how to save some one with Narcan.

I also met a lot of great writers who do interesting things and who I may turn to for information.  I won a super raffle basket with NYPD stuff and some books by one of the presenters Marco Conelli.  He was an undercover detective and has fascinating stories.

This year the hotel was in downtown Green Bay which was nice.   There was a lot of excitement in town because the Green Bay Packers were playing a pre season game with the Titans. I think they come from Nashville, but not sure.  I also think they were staying at our hotel because I saw some guys who looked like football players and there were a lot of cops there protecting somebody.

And then it was on to Chicago where I was looking forward to a peaceful time to work on some ideas I have.  Wrong.  The first thing I noticed when I arrived was that the phone and Internet didn’t work.  Luckily I had my cell phone, but trying to get service on the phone was crazy.  I would get a message saying that any time I could speak to a human if I asked to speak to a live agent.  I asked for that service and got another recording telling me their office was closed and to call back when it was open and then I was cut off.  I did finally put in a request for service using their automated system and I was told they couldn’t come until Thursday from 4:00- 8:00.  It was silly but I felt like I was abandoned on a desert island.  Really silly because I did have my cell phone and this device that can get me online and even my cell phone can be a hotspot, though I have a feeling it costs a bunch.

My building is over 100 years old and they’re rehabbing the windows.  So I had people coming in to take out the storm windows and then men on ladders working on the windows making noise similar to fingernails on a chalkboard.   They have been very nice, but still…  They come early too, so no sitting around in my nightgown drinking coffee.

But the good news is the AT & T guy came four hours early and I’m back online with a functioning landline.  The window guys are close to finished and I have managed to work on stuff anyway.  I think the most important thing I noticed in all of it was not to let any of it get to me.  The older I get, the more of a “whatever” person I’ve become.

Still Learning

It figures, it’s the first day of summer and jacket weather in Chicago.  I’m not complaining.  It was a millions times better than the awful heat a few days ago.  I stayed inside with everything closed up trying to keep what little bit of cool was inside.  By the time the heat broke, it was 89 degrees in my living room and that was with one air conditioner pumping in cool air from the back of the apartment along with numerous fans.

When the sky is this gloomy and I need to turn on lights during the day, it is hard to judge the time.  It’s like the whole day looks the same until it fades to night.

Somebody said it on facebook -- writing is a sitting business.  I keep having to remind myself to get up every hour or so and walk up and down the long hall a few times as try to finish this rewrite.

I have finally developed a more casual relationship with my laptop.  I no longer have to work with it plugged in which means I’m mobile. It finally got through to me that the battery works for a long time.  Nor do I have to have it sitting on a table, in my lap is just fine.  I also stopped treating it like it was so fragile.  I just leave it where I leave it without too much concern. This morning I had a thought about something I wrote last night and all I had to do was grab my MacBook off the couch where I left it, sign in and my manuscript was in front of me.

I’m still not happy with the way Mac shows files but I’ve mostly made friends with Word for Mac.  Whenever I find myself grumbling, I think back to carbon paper, and typewriter erasers that tore the paper.  Even when I had an electric typewriter and used correction tape and Liquid Paper it was a pain.   One small correction could mean pages of retyping.  Now I can try on sentences like clothes in a store dressing room.  If I don’t like it, I don’t have to keep it.

The big news is that Amazon is running a one day promotion on June 25, offering the Kindle edition of ON THE HOOK for $1.99.

Just a few more weeks until the paperback edition of If Hooks Could Kill and the hardcover edition of For Better or Worsted come out. I know it’s real because my editor sent me an actual copy of each book.

There is just something about seeing the books in person.

I have updated my website to show off the new books. There is an excerpt of For Better or Worsted now and photographs of the projects. I have also added a couple of free patterns for a simple knitted scarf and a simple crocheted scarf.

Now I still have to order bookmarks and then I’ll be all set.

I went to Yarnosphere last Saturday. It was the first year of the Southern California yarn show and I hope it becomes a tradition. I have gone to yarn shows all over the country and this was the first time it was local. Nancy and Cal of Custom Handweaving gave me a prime spot in their booth to set up my books. I was surprised at how many people stopped to look at them or comment that they’d read some of them. A nice number of books went home with people, too.

I’m going to the Vogue Live Knitting Show in Chicago in a couple of weeks. I’ll give more details about when and where I’ll be signing books when it gets closer. I am really looking forward to it. I love hanging out with yarn crafters.

I’m on a crochet list and one of the members said she’d gotten in over her head by promising thirty lap blankets to a nursing home. She said she’d made ten and asked if anybody would help out. Even though I’ve never made a lapghan, I offered to make one. The only stipulations were it had to be 36 x 36. I am making up my own pattern and using some of my surplus yarn. I am really enjoying making it and knowing that somewhere in Indiana it is going to be keeping someone’s legs warm. And maybe it will make them feel good to know that someone made it for them.

I always have my characters making things to give away. It’s nice to be finally doing it myself.

Holiday Traditions

I was just in Chicago and seeing Macy’s which used to be Marshall Fields reminded me of how Christmas shopping used to be. In those days the only stores that had shopping carts were grocery stores and everybody shopped at the department stores that lined State Street. Each store had it’s own personality, but Marshall Fields was in a class by itself.

There was always a crowd waiting to see the Christmas windows. Along with Santa Clause, they had their own special characters, Uncle Mistletoe and Aunt Holly. All the stores had special boxes and shopping bags for the holidays, but Fields were always the nicest.

When I was in college, I sold toys at Christmas at Marshall Fields. Once you got hired, you went through a day of training. They made a big deal out the fact that you were working for such a classy store. We had to wear dark colors and nothing sleeveless, and of course, no pants. The only credit cards were the store’s own and everything was written up by hand.

The toy department was amazing. It took up half of the fifth floor. If you figure that the store is a square block, you get just how big that was. I worked at the counter that sold microscopes and chemistry sets. Once the store opened, the aisles would get so crowded you couldn’t see the counter across from you.

Carolers went through the store singing Christmas songs and it was very festive.

All the restaurants were on the seventh floor. The Walnut Room was the main one and at Christmas they put up a two story tree. The decorations were always new and the big excitement was to see what the designers chose. They had special food. The only thing I remember for sure was a snowman made out of ice cream.

I’m not the only one sad to see Macy’s swallow up Marshall Fields. When it first happened, there were picketers carrying signs and marching outside the store, but Macy’s didn’t seem to care. The Marshall Fields clocks still stand on the corners and they left the plaquesthat say Marshall Fields on the building.

And they left the Walnut Room stay the Walnut Room and at Christmas they still have the giant tree. Chicago people love their traditions and every year make their trip downtown to have lunch under the Christmas tree. On the weekends, there’s a three hour wait. For the past two years, my dear friend Penny and I have started meeting for lunch under the tree. I have known her since I was two, so we have lots of memories to talk over.

It’s fun to watch the families come in and old friends like me and Penny. I just wish they still had those ice cream snowmen.

Macy’s apparently understands Chicagoans obsession with Fields, so this year the windows pay tribute to holidays at Marshall Fields. You’ve probably figured the picture on the top is the tree in the Walnut Room. And the picture on the bottom is one of the holiday windows with Uncle Mistletoe in his red coat. Poor Aunt Holly seems to have been forgotten.

The fifth floor still has toys, but now it is just a tiny department run by Toys R Us. Not the magic I remember.

Christmas Letter

My books and blogs aren’t the only thing I write.  Each year, I also write a letter to friends to whom we still send paper Christmas cards, telling them what we’ve been up to since the last letter twelve months earlier.

That means I have to go over everything that happened this year and sift through it, deciding what to include.

No question about the first thing I’ll mention: the birth of our grandson Elliott!  He’s six months old already and I’m hoping to see him again soon.

I’ll also include the loss of my father.  Unfortunately, he didn’t live long enough to meet his great-grandson. 

The travel highlights of the year will also be in the letter: our trip to Alaska, including a cruise and land tour.  And of course our travel included trips to Chicago to see Elliott!

The letter includes whatever my husband wants, too.  He’s retired, if you can call him that.  He’s highly active around our house, building and organizing things, among everything else that he does. 

We also include updates about our sons and daughter-in-law.  And of course I always mention our beloved dogs, Lexie and Mystie.  They certainly didn’t understand why they weren’t the centers of attention when Elliott came for a visit, but they’re back in charge now and that gets mentioned in the letter, too.

How about you--do you still send out paper Christmas cards?  Do you do a recap of your year for people you may not have seen much, or at all?

Filling a Memory Box

When I die, I'm going to come back as a squirrel.

That's right.

See, I have a habit of storing things away, tucking them into unexpected places, especially if those things bring back happy memories.

Yesterday, I was sorting through boxes of stuff, choosing items to give away, others to toss, and some to savor. These things (above) are definitely in my "To Keep" file. In fact, I think I'll give them a special box, a "Memory Box."

1. Upper left (clockwise) is a cute plastic hold-all pouch that my sister, Jane, gave me to remind me of my home on the beach.

2. Upper right (1 o'clock position) is a clothing brush that belonged to Grandma Marge. I don't recall her ever using it, but it reminds me of her anyway because of the whimsical face painted on the handle. By the way, this brush does come in handy for dusting off the shoulders of jackets that have been sitting too long in your closet.

3. Lower right (4 o'clock position) is a necklace given to me by Aunt Phyllis, a lovely and fashionable woman who lives on the Miracle Mile in Chicago. She and Uncle Manny always attended swanky events, so she thought a pretty bauble like this would be a good addition to my dressy wardrobe. And she was right!

4. Lower left (7 o'clock position) is a Chairman Mao watch that I bought in China. It tickles me that he was so very much against capitalism, and yet his image appears on this touristy trinket. When it works (which isn't often), Mao waves at you. This timepiece (ha!) both reminds me of a great trip and a piece of wisdom: Everything changes.

5. Right (9 o'clock position) is a pin, a magnolia painted on wood. I bought it in Charleston, SC. With it comes happy memories (and one sad one) of our times in that lovely city.

6. Middle of the grouping. Of all these possessions, this one means the most to me. My maternal grandmother, Constantia Funk, always carried her money in this plastic coin purse. When I look at this, I still see her bandaged fingers fumbling for change. As she aged, calcium deposits caused lumps on her fingertips. Bit by bit, as I stare at this purse, she comes back to life for me, almost the way a ghost materializes in a movie.

I challenge each of you to find a selection of tokens that revive happy memories--and put tuck them away in a Memory Box.

What's New

I left 80 degrees and sunshine in Southern California to come to Chicago and the prospect of snow. Of course, it’s not just snow these days. Now, the weather man first called it a winter storm warning, which was later downgraded to a winter storm advisory. He didn’t explain what either term meant, but the best I could tell was he were saying it was going to snow.

I know there is some weather that is threatening, but lately it seems like every weather forecast sounds like disaster is about to strike. But then news reporting in general has become like one big tabloid. Every night, one of the news station plays dramatic music and flashes a big sign on the screen that says Breaking News. Not exactly. Most of the time, whatever the story is, has long since ended.

Don’t even get me started on how they send reporters out to do a remote from a location where something happened in the past. How newsworthy is it to have a reporter standing on a street where hours or even days earlier a bank was robbed, and the cops and everyone else has left?

But back to my trip to Chicago. As I was unpacking my laptop, netbook and smart phone, I started thinking about my parents and what they would think about these devices. My father died in 1970, so he missed all of it. My mother died in 1996, and knew that I had some kind of phone in my purse and heard a neighbor talking about sending messages to her daughter on a computer. But nothing compared to now.

I held up my BlackBerry and tried to imagine explaining it to my father. Not so easy to understand for someone who last used a phone that weighted a ton and was wired into the wall.

As I turned on my laptop, I imagined my father looking at it. It is so far from what he was used to, how could I even explain it. I know when I got my first laptop, I thought it was so neat, like taking the world with me, but I was already used to a computer.

While these thoughts danced around in my head, I started working on Yarn2Go and a scene the involved a lighthouse. While it takes place in the fictitious town of Cadbury by the Sea, it bears more than a little resemblance to Pacific Grove where there happens to be a famous lighthouse. I couldn’t remember the exact details and wanted to check them.

I could just imagine if my father was watching how amazed he’d be as I with a few keystrokes, went online and got the whole history of the Los Pinos lighthouse. In case you’re interested - it dates from 1885 and is the longest continuous lighthouse on the west coast. Not only did I get facts, but photographs and a map that showed just where it sits. And then with a few more keystrokes, I was back in the middle of my manuscript, adding the details to my work in progress.

My father would have loved to be able to follow his curiosity without leaving the house.

Sometimes I think about what it was like before we had all this information for the asking. My curiosity likes now better.

What is your favorite thing you’ve found out on the Internet?

Falling for Fall

October is my favorite month in Chicago. And it’s not disappointing. I left a surprisingly soggy L.A. Wednesday for crisp blue skies, golden leaves and temperatures in the 70's. True, the rain in L.A. was an oddity. It usually only rains in the winter, but a storm snuck in early. And by the weekend, the rain will probably be forgotten as the forecast calls for sunny skies and warm temperatures. But even so, that L.A. weather won’t have the same fall magic I always find here.

The ground was littered with fallen leaves as I walked to the market and I noticed that the drying leaves give a distinct scent to the air. In the old days, people used to rake the leaves into piles in the gutter and burn them. I can still remember the pungent smell. At the store, the summer fruit was just about gone. Instead of peaches from California, there were bins of honey crisp apples from Michigan.

I was a little apprehensive about this trip. When I was here in July, it was in the 90's and my air conditioning didn’t work, there was plumbing work going on that required ripped out walls and teams of men here all day. The final touch was the arrival of the fire department at midnight the Sunday of my visit. From my front porch I watched them go in the building. I was in my nightgown, though thankfully one that looked kind of like a dress, and grabbed my flash drives and my purse. Then I waited. No one came through the building telling me to leave. I didn’t hear any neighbors in the hall. But I also didn’t hear the fire trucks leaving. Adrenalin was pumping as I wondered what to do. Finally when I went back on the porch, the firemen were coming out of the building and I could see they were packing up.

It wasn’t a false alarm. The neighbor on the first floor had a fire in his dryer.

But as soon as I got here this time and felt the pleasant air and realized that no plumbers were going to pound on the door whenever they decided to arrive, I relaxed and began to enjoy my favorite season. I also don’t think the fire department is going to show up. At least, I hope not.

So, hopefully I can focus on finishing the first draft of crochet mystery # 7 and painting the porch door. Well, painting after I get the old paint off, which I understand is the hard part. Then there is the wrap I’m crocheting to wear for my son’s wedding at the end of October. If only I could crochet and type and the same time.

I’m using this beautiful pumpkin with flecks of gold colored yarn for the wrap. It is both a souvenir from the Summer Knit and Crochet Show where I bought it and a reminder of fall. I should probably put some great final line here that ties everything together, but I can’t think of one. I keep thinking about the typing, the crocheting and the painting I need to do. And that’s not even mentioning that my sixth book, Behind the Seams, comes out in a couple of weeks. Didn’t Bette Lamb, our guest blogger, say something about wishing for more hours in the day. I’m with her.

Do you have a favorite season?