Listening In

Everybody seems to be on their cellphone - in line at the bank, checking out at the grocery store and even walking down the street.

Even though it is usaually annoying, there is an upside. Eavesdropping on cellphone calls is almost as good as eavesdropping on a live conversation. Of course, it's a little more challenging because you have to imagine the other side of the call.

Once coming home on the train, a woman behind me was having a very loud cellphone conversation. When I tell you what she was saying, you can pretty much figure the other side of the call. The woman was saying that she was definitely not having an affair with Walter no matter what the caller thought (obviously Mrs. Walter). She went on and on about the non affair and then ended by saying if Mrs. Walter was a better wife, Walter wouldn't be looking to cheat on her.

Sometimes the conversation and the look of the caller are at odds. Yesterday at the airport, a heavy set man with dyed light brown hair and dressed in white shorts and a Hawaiin shirt was telling someone on the phone that he'd been spending 10 hours a day at the hospital. Where, on the beach?

And well, sometimes the conversations are just boring.

But then sometimes the one side of the conversation is just enough to fire up your imagination. I was in the Admiral's Club at LAX trying to get a cup of coffee before my plane. A man dressed in a well tailored suit with a cellphone stuck between his ear and shoulder was getting a cup of coffee and taking up the whole area. I started to get annoyed, thinking he was thoughtless and rude until I heard his end of the his call. In a panicked voice, he said," How much exactly was the descrepency?" Sounds like the beginning of a story to me.

Have you heard one side of any interesting conversations?

Anyone coming to Printers Row in Chicago this weekend - I'll be on cozy mystery panel at 10:30 in the Harold Washington Library and signing books at the Mystery Writers of America booth from noon to 1:45 and then the The Big Sleep booth from 2 to 3.

Last Minute Details

No matter how much I think that this time it will be different, it never is. There’s always a mad dash to get everything together when I’m going away. It didn’t help that I have been going back and forth with my agent on something. No more drop it in a mailbox and forget it for awhile.

I sent her some chapters Thursday morning. Thursday afternoon they were back with some valid comments. No matter that I had things to do, I sat down and fixed the chapters right way and sent them back across cyberspace.

Friday morning the download was waiting in my mailbox. Everything was fine, just some clean up and getting rid of all the notes. I did my work and sent the file back. Linda wrote about the wonders of the Internet. It is pretty amazing how all this stuff flew back and forth from coast to coast.

Then it was back to get ready to go to Chicago for among other things, the Printers Row Book Fair. It was very exciting when a link to it showed up in my google alert because my name is in the list of authors. I’ve gone to the fair for the past two years and signed books in the Mystery Writers of America booth, but that doesn’t get your name in the program. You have to be on a panel for that.

On Saturday, June 12 at 2:30 in Digitally Lit Room 1, I will be joining Wendy Lyn Watson, Clare O’Donohue, Heather Webber and Kate Collins to discuss Mysteries with a Cozy Twist. I’d love to see anyone in the Chicago area. I’ll also be signing books in the Mystery Writers of America booth from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday.

I was going to get my stuff ready days ago. Ha! Even though I have some clothes there, I always carry a fresh supply of black tee shirts and I still have to remember my phone cord and my flash drive, then there’s my computer and all the notes for my sixth crochet mystery which I’m going to work on while I’m there, and I have to decide what crochet project I’m going to take for the plane, and figure out snacks for the plane that aren’t too big and don’t crumble too easily, and on and on.. As usual, I’m doing it all at the last minute.

What about you? Are you ready days in advance when you go on a trip? Or are you chronically last minute like me?

Catching Up

I sent the revision of You Better Knot Die to my editor via cyberspace on Monday. I felt a big sigh of relief and the feeling of satisfaction from finishing something. In my push to finish, I’d let a few things go, like unpacking my suitcase from my trip to Malice and Chicago. What a surprise when I opened it up today and found a printed note from the TSA that they had searched it.

I wonder what set them off. Was it the apricot yarn in the cute shopping bag I got in Alexandria? Or maybe the Guide to Santa Fe? Did it seem odd that someone flying from Washington or Chicago (not sure when the search took place) was interested in the New Mexico town? The Left Coast Crime Conference is going to be in Santa Fe and I already signed up for it even though it isn’t until next March. I’d picked up the pamphlet at the Malice conference where they were taking sign ups for Left Coast. I figure it’s never too early to see what’s there.

Or could it have been the pamphlet I picked up in the Washington hotel lobby about Williamsburg Virginia. If the other project I’m working on gets a go, one of the books is going to take place there. I’m definitely not counting my chickens before they hatch, but no reason not to have some information on what’s in Williamsburg. I figure that if I’m going to write about the place, I’ll certainly going to be going there.

I can’t believe there was anything about my clothes that was threatening. Dirty laundry is dirty laundry. There is only one thing that might have given those TSA guys pause. The black apron that has Killer Hobbies in blood red embroidered lettering.

Thanks to Joanna, all us blog sisters have these snazzy aprons to use at future events to advertise our blog.

Whatever set the TSA people off, it looks like they were satisfied my suitcase and contents were harmless because nothing seemed to be missing. I finally emptied the bag and was going to stick into the back of the closet, but then realized there was no point making it hard to get to since I’m going away again in a couple of weeks.

This time to Chicago for the Printers Row Book Fair, which is June 12 and 13. It’s a very big deal this year because not only am I going to be signing in the Mystery Writers of America booth on Saturday from 10 a.m. to Noon, but I’m going to be on the Mysteries with a Cozy Twist panel along with Wendy Lyn Watson, Clare O’Donohue, Heather Webber and Kate Collins, as well. The panel is on Saturday from 2:30-3:15.

I’m going to keep my fingers crossed that the weather is better than the last two years. The first year it was hot and there was a thunderstorm and the tornado sirens went off, and last year it rained and was so cold I could barely sign my name.

I hope the TSA people don’t find it suspicious that I pack tank tops and mittens.

Have you ever had your bag searched and did you figure out why?

What's in a Name

I went to Border’s to sign stock of By Hook or By Crook. I can never leave a bookstore empty handed and besides I had a nice 25 percent off coupon. I picked up a dictionary of names and another book that promises more than 30,000 names from around the world. And there was the Edward doll from Twilight. What can I say, I collect odd dolls and I really liked the book and movie. What else can you call a collection that includes Barbie the detective, Star Trek characters and a Ron Howard doll from Happy Days among others?

I already had a couple of books of names, but they are light weight compared to these new ones. Naming characters is a big deal. What you choose says a lot about their age, background, nationality and what soap operas were popular. When I was writing a picture book for a workshop I took at University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival, I wanted to find a name for my dog main character. He was a dog with an attitude who I was sure would roll his eyes at me if I tried to give him any sort of cutsy name. When I saw Monty in a book of names, I knew it belonged to him.

I was reading the Sisters in Crime Newsletter and Charlaine Harris talked about the care she takes in picking out names for her protagonists. She said she might get other character’s names by thumbing through the phone book, but not her main character. She picks their names to be reflective of their lives. As an example, she mentioned choosing Lily for a character needed a tender name despite her tough, practical exterior.

I wish I could say I had some complicated reason for giving Molly Pink her name. Actually it just popped in my head one day and I knew that was her name. It was only later that I realized I had some kind of unconscious thing for names with color. I honestly didn’t notice Molly Pink, Barry Greenberg or Blue Schwartz all had colors in their names. At first anyway. With Blue as I was writing I realized both her names were colors. Schwartz is German for black. I ended up incorporating the bruise aspect of her black and blue name in the book.

The cool thing about the books I got today is that they have international names, so if I have say a Korean character, I can find an authentic name. It’s also fun to read what the names mean. The name dictionary seems pretty authentic in the derivation’s it offer. Better than another book I have that tries to determine meaning by what celebrities have a particular name. I just have to be careful not to get so enamored in reading through all the lists that I use up all my time.

A yarn update. I started knitting with the yarn that was such a nightmare going from hank to ball. So far, it seems to be very nice to work with. It survived the test of unraveling and didn’t get tangled and I was able to start over with no problem other than being annoyed that I had to start over. I’ll post a picture when it’s done.

The Printers Row Book Fair was lots of fun despite the cold and rain. I am sure glad I brought a sweater, a jacket and an umbrella. A lot of nice people stopped by the table and bought books. Julie Hyzy did another great job of organizing the Mystery Writers of America Booth. Margery Flax from MWA supplied us with brownies and the warmth of her personality. And I discovered an amazing yarn store down the street from the fair.

It should be warmer and dryer this Sunday at noon when I sign as part of the Los Angeles Romance Authors book fair at the Encino Barnes & Noble.

A Second Look at Yarn Shopping

Remember the experiences at yarn stores I wrote about a couple of weeks ago? I decided to give it another shot. I’m ready to start writing the fifth crochet mystery and in this one Molly Pink is going to be learning about yarn. If she’s going to learn, I have to find out about it first. I have already collected some interesting yarns at Michael’s and Joann’s, but the really good stuff is in the small stores.

I picked the two closest yarn stores. After my previous experience I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I went with an open mind. The first store had one woman working the counter and a bunch of women around a center table. I noticed right away they were all knitting. I ended up hanging around for awhile before I was helped. I wondered how these small stores stay in business. I found out. They are busy. She had customers calling and people who’d come in before me to tend to before she could get to me.

I was actually looking for some yarn for a project I’d found in a book. It called for nylon worsted weight yarn, which I hadn’t been able to find at Michael’s or Joann’s. The Knot Garden didn’t have any either, but I found out I could use any worsted weight yarn for the shawl. I’m kind of shy, but I finally explained I wrote a mystery series with a crochet theme. Everyone seemed interested, particularly when I explained the books took place in the area.

Everyone was very friendly and anxious to show me their projects and offer knitting advice. The clerk said if anyone bought yarn there, they were welcome to hang around and get knitting help. They were curious about crochet, but none of them were crocheters. I gave out book marks for all my books and left some on the counter. I left having bought some beautiful garnet-colored shiny yarn for my shawl project.

I’d Rather Be Knitting was only a short distance away. Again there were a group of women around a table, working on projects. The two owners were very friendly and I’d gotten over my initial shyness at the first store, so explained right away about the crochet mysteries and my desire to learn about yarn. Somehow I had expected the yarn to be similar in both stores, but it was completely different. Gorgeous at both places, but each seemed to have different brands and types. The owners told me Kate Jacobs who wrote The Friday Night Knitting Club had done an event at their store, which impressed me. That book is a super hit. They said they might be interested in doing some kind of event with me. We’re going to discuss.

I bought some yarn there, too. A beautiful skein of pale pink cashmere. It cost a fortune, but both Molly and I want to see what it is like to work with. My plan is to make swatches of all the fancy yarn I buy. Molly is going to be doing the same, so it is part crochet adventure and part book research. The owner of the second store assured me the one skein was enough to make a scarf. She showed me one she was making in blue cashmere. She was using big needles and the result was lacy and luscious. She suggested I use a big hook.

I’m sorry to say all the yarn is still in the bags. By Hook or By Crook comes out Tuesday and my editor asked me to write a Dear Reader letter for the Berkley website. I’m going to Chicago on Wednesday. Going away always means lots of stuff to take care of. For any of you in the Chicago area, I’m signing books next Saturday at the Printers Row Fair in downtown Chicago from 1-3 at the Mystery Writers of America booth. I’m keeping my fingers crossed the weather is better than last year when the tornado sirens went off during a thunder storm. But just in case, this time I’m taking my umbrella.