My New Crafting Mystery Series

I've mentioned a work in progress a time or two on the blog but hadn't give out many details. I was excited and a little nervous about the project so kept it a little close to the vest so to speak. It was a book with a new character, though still a crafter, and I was kind of afraid of jinxing the whole thing by saying too much as I wasn't quite sure where the book would lead. I was sure I'd finish it, but sometimes projects have minds of their own or what seemed like an awesome idea in the beginning fizzles out.

My new series, Twas the Murder Before Christmas, features Merry Winters, a crafterpreneur who specializes in Christmas: decor, attire, and personalized items. Merry and I share a similar issue (empty nest) and also a love of crafting and Christmas. I had a fun time writing about her and learning about her, her family, and her community.

If you follow my other blog (The Self-Rescue Princess), you know that Christmas themed books and movies are my favorite forms of entertainment. I dedicate my blog to reviewing Christmas books and movies from November to mid-January. (If you have any suggestions, feel free to share them. I can never have too much Christmas...much like my new heroine.)


Even more exciting than finishing the first book is having a home for it! In a few short days, the book will be headed to Henery Press who picked up the new series (currently contracted for three). 


In the first book, Not a Creature Was Stirring, Merry is excited as she's about to kick her crafting business into high gear with a purchase of a mobile crafting studio, an RV, and discovers it came with an extra item--a dead body. Right now, it's scheduled for release the end of January 2019.

Crafting Saves the World!

Welcome today's guest author, Lois Winston to Killer Hobbies today! How do you help foster your kids' creativity?

March is National Craft Month. I believe that people are born creative. Just watch any baby or toddler exploring his surroundings, and you’ll see what I mean. Unfortunately, most adults start squelching that creativity (Don’t touch!) in their children early on. Eventually that innate creativity is so suppressed that it’s nearly impossible to retrieve. So why are we then surprised when our kids prefer to sit around for hours, staring at a computer monitor or TV screen?

Solving problems and resolving conflicts require creative thinking. Creativity needs to be nurtured in order that today’s children grow up to become tomorrow’s leaders, but too many outside forces are at work, influencing our children to “color within the lines.” Now think about this: people who color within the lines never learn to think outside the box. It’s that outside the box thinking that finds solutions to the world’s problems.

One of the ways we can help our children continue to grow their creativity is to encourage them to craft, beginning at a very early age. The first step is to have creative materials around the house for children to use. Keep ample supplies of paint, glue, markers, chenille stems, craft sticks, pompoms, and other basic craft materials handy for those “I’m bored; there’s nothing to do” days.

Instead of buying another video game for that next birthday party or special occasion, buy craft kits. Keep a few kits on hand for rainy days, for when your children’s friends spend the night, or just for an impromptu surprise. Encourage children to make gifts for family members’ birthdays, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, etc. instead of buying gifts.

Remember that your children’s efforts don’t have to be perfect. Always praise the attempt and encourage children to continue creating. The act of crafting develops small motor skills and hand/eye coordination. Creativity helps grow our brains. By encouraging your children to craft, you’re giving them an incredible foundation for future endeavors.

All it takes for children to learn to love crafting is an environment in which they can satisfy their creative nature. Nurture that inborn talent, and you’ll help your children grow into creative adults that just might wind up solving many of our planet’s problems.

I write two mystery series, the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries and the Empty Nest Mysteries. In both series my amateur sleuths are artists/crafters, but they must also use the creative sides of their brains not only to solve murders but to find ways out their own personal predicaments.

In Assault with a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, magazine crafts editor Anastasia Pollack learns that her recently deceased husband was a closet gambler, and he’s left his family deeply in debt. Anastasia needs to think outside the box to keep herself and her kids from winding up living in a cardboard box on the street. Each of the books in the series (four novels and three mini-mysteries to date) finds her moonlighting at other jobs to help pay down her debt.

In Definitely Dead, the first book in my Empty Nest Mystery series, would-be novelist Gracie Elliott’s job as a fabric designer is outsourced overseas. When she can’t find another position in her field, her outside-the-box thinking results in her establishing a business that will allow her the flexibility to pen her future (hopefully!) bestsellers while also earning the income she needs to keep her kids in college. Future books in the series will find Gracie continuing to put her creativity to work in various entrepreneurial enterprises.

 

 

 

Bio:

USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Lois Winston writes mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, women’s fiction, children’s chapter books, and non-fiction under her own name and her Emma Carlyle pen name. Kirkus Reviews dubbed her critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” In addition, Lois is an award-winning craft and needlework designer who often draws much of her source material for both her characters and plots from her experiences in the crafts industry. Visit Lois/Emma at www.loiswinston.com and Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers blog, www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com. Follow everyone on Tsu at www.tsu.co/loiswinston, on Pinterest at www.pinterest.com/anasleuth, and onTwitter @anasleuth.

Inquiring Minds

I was recently at a mystery writers panel at the Virginia State Library in Richmond, Va. One of the questions we were asked by our moderator was about our craft—no not the craft of writing, but the craft we’re using in our books. Why did we choose it? It gave me pause.
I had never thought to write a “scrapbooking mystery” when I first started writing SCRAPBOOK OF SECRETS. In fact, when I first started writing it, I thought of it more as women’s fiction. But as I started down that path during National Novel Writing month a few years back, something didn’t feel right. But I kept writing.
I had disjointed narratives, characters coming and going, and a big bunch of adjectives and adverbs going nowhere. I mentioned it to my agent, who helped me place the mystery structure to it. She said, “It sounds like a mystery.” Hmph.
The next thing I knew I was on creative fire and couldn’t stop writing it. And wouldn’t you know it, my favorite hobby was front and center in the story line. Funny how that happens.
The thing about hobbies is that if you have one, it’s bound to find it’s way in to your writing. It’s not forced or strained—or just a marketing strategy. Well, for most of us, that is. And scrapbooking isn’t just about pretty paper. There’s also a puzzle quality to it, a social aspect, and a deeper meaning to it.
In the first book in my Cumberland Creek Series, the mystery is partially solved by the scrapbookers through scrapbooking. I wouldn’t have a plot without it. In my second book, the same scrapbookers are tearing apart a scrapbook of a mysterious nature to figure things out.
So I wonder about this subgenre of mystery. And I wonder about our readers. Do you read a book just because it includes a hobby you’re interested in? Or is the writer you follow? The mystery? What is it?
For the writers out there, what comes first when you get an idea for a novel—your craft? Your story? Your characters?
Sorry for being so full of questions today, but inquiring minds, dontchyaknow.