BREAKTIME with Jackie Griffey

2008-08-25T11:35:00.000-07:00

Hi and happy August! August here in Arkansas is usually hot-hot-hot but not this year. We've had some really great weather, cool breezes, and plenty of rain without any really, really bad storms. Checking with family in Florida, all of them are all right and no homes damaged by Faye so we're grateful for that. My sister-in-law I talked to recently lives on an island out from St. Augustine. Can you imagine if instead of going into a storm cellar or safe room as we do here, you are braced for an annuncement to evacuate the island because they are closing the bridges? I think I'll just stay right here in Arkansas. :-)

Beteen those few breaks to enjoy the good weather I've been busy working. My two 2007 books from Five Star: Spanish Eyes (HC romance-suspense-LP scheduled for Nov. 2008); and Recipe For Trouble (HC a cozy mystery) are being gobbled up by libraries (Halleluyah! :-). Also Spanish Eyes (HC romance-supspense) will be out in March, 2009. All of them are from Five Star. Plus all that editing, ancillary material and general eye strain, I've just sent back a signed contract for Dead on Arrival (HC cozy mystery, the first of a new series-schedule TBA :-))

I like to write (almost) as much as I like to read but haven't had as mich time to read as I'd like lately, and still haven't made any money! I'm still squeezing ink cartridges out of the grocery list. I'm one of those 'successful, published' writers who is still broke as the Ten Commandments. I'll clue you in more on that later (if anyone wants to hear it - it may broaden your education - ha!) and tell you what to expect and what to look for, depending on what you want for your precious little Word Child.

Break's over!
Jackie

2008-07-03T14:03:00.000-07:00

Hello, I hope I'm not talking to myself - ha! I apologize for the long time between blogs. I've been busier than a cat on roller skates. The publishing and writing business is mostly a waiting game - hurry up and wait! Then after you get a contract, get all the editing and ancillary work done, hopefully get some blerbs and a suitable picture if they need one, there's another long wait. One of my favorite publishers has another wait on top of all that. They wait about a year to see how the book is going to sell before they go on and accept another one you've sent them. Right now, it looks like I just go on and send things in to keep from losing it on this desk. Fortunately the monitor is tall enough on that top shelf that I can tell where it is - ha!

After all that I guess you wonder what I've accomplished (me too, believe me!) Got lots of bad news while I was spinning my wheels too, it's a mistake to stop and think about that, soldier on if you're having the same difficulty. The worst disappointment was neither of the two books I entered in a contest trying to get an award for one of them, neither even got into the finals. (Sigh...) I got a royalty statement on two others which was so little I have to wait till next statement to get it. (Sigh, again) And I still haven't heard from the publisher I sent two cozy mysteries. Not that I don't have enough to worry about, but I worry that if this publisher likes the second cozy but not the first one, should I say 'no thanks?" I just don't think I'm physically able to do that!!!! But if he likes the second one but doesen't want the first one, will I ever be able to sell it?

Jeeze, where is Ann Landers when you need her. I know she practically died at her desk, bless her heart. She's earned her rest. (And I'll bet she'd just pull up her socks and keep working - that's what I'm going to do too.)

I've sent two books to an audio publisher, so I've still got some hopes. If they like the two or even one of the books I sent it will be a first for me. (I'm typing with my fingers crossed-:-))

On the sunny side of all that, my grown children and I are in good health, working, and looking forward to the Fourth of July tomorrow. Happy Birthday, USA!
Break's over,
Jackie

2008-04-01T16:56:00.000-07:00

LARGE PRINT! Good news, friends! Just got word a few days ago my new hardback book with Five Star (SPANISH EYES - a romance-suspense) will be available mid-November, 2008 in large print. It's timely with love, romance, humor and suspense and got a really nice review from Booklist. I'm thrilled and doing the happy dance around my chair. This came out in September, 2008 and already (in Dec.) has thirteen pages of libraries who have it available now. The other hardback which came out in May of 2008 is a cozy mystery and I have a new romance-suspense coming out from Five Star in February of 2009. Drop by my page (there's a page for each book) and please leave a note on my guest book if you visit the page or a comment if you visit my blog. I'd love to hear from you. Readng was my first love before I started writing and one of the best things I've discovered now that I'm writing, is meeting other writers and readers and getting acquainted. I will try to blog more often and look forward to hearing from readers and fellow writers.
Break's over!:-)

2008-03-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

Lion or Lamb? Here we are in the second week in March and (I guess?) it came in like a lion. It blew its freezing breath on us and dumped three-four inches of snow to show us winter isn't dead yet! That's unusual even in February for Arkansas but Arkansas is famous for unusual things. I think the 'weather man' assigned to us up there on cloud nine or wherever - is about as independant as a cat on roller skates.

Fortunately our family survived with financial instead of physical hurts and we've changed our gas system to electric central heat. Whether this is as good for the environment and us as we keep hearing or not remains to be seen.(Wish us luck :-))

My writing is keeping me busy and saving my sanity. I had two books come out in 2007: RECIPE FOR TROUBLE, cozy mystery, hardback in May; and SPANISH EYES, romance-suspense, hardback in September. Also, I learned from the publishers digest where we writers can talk to each other - a place where I can type in my novel title and see what libraries have my book. Neat, huh? :-) And surprise!!!! There were thirteen (13!) pages of them which have bought my book-and it only came out in September! I'm dancing around my chair between sentences.

I'm looking past my computer at my lonesome yard swing. The snow has melted but the trees are bare with only a few green blades of grass trying to catch the sunshine. I'm picturing myself sitting there with a cup of coffee later, or maybe a good cozy mystery...

Break's over! :-)
Jackie

2008-03-12T08:47:00.000-07:00

2008-02-09T09:56:00.000-08:00

Happy February-everyone got their resolutions taken care of or at least got a good start? I fall into the second category. Got a good start. This doesn't necessarily mean I did good, just made a dent in what I set out to do. I sent the two novels to the audio place; entered my screenplay in the Film Festival Contest; and also sent my two books off to seek an award in two categories.

I've aleady heard from the audio place. :-( They turned down both books. I asked why (which I got the feeling was a no-no-, but they did answer.). They said they were 'not suitable for audio.' Went on to explain because a book was good it didn't mean it was suitable for audio. They named a famous writer and said his were not suitable for audio either. (So why don't I feel better? LOL?)

Anyway, I still have hopes for the script and the two novels and I'm joining a new group of writers which looks interesting.

I live in Arkansas and we've had some horrendous tornado-wind damage weather this week. All of us (our family) and friends are safe with minimum roof and small limbs damage. Help is on the scene and more on the way for all the storms victims and survivors.

I'm trying to figure out how to get a Short URL for each of my books in print that will take the reader directly to my book on Amazon - any help or directions will be greatley appreciated. Also, comments and news from readers and fellow writers. Thank you for your prayers and comment, Brenda.

Break's over!:-)

2008-01-24T13:58:00.000-08:00

Resolved: In 2008 I'm going to get at least one novel finished; send out two novels to compete in an award contest; maybe send another novel to an audio publisher; send a script to a screenwriting contest; and pray a lot some of these things will get an honorable mention or give some readers at least a little pleasure as reading other people's books has given me; squeeze enough money out of the grocery list to pay my dues in two writers groups; and of course write; write; write; and find time to read some while I'm at it.

There haven't been many comments to my post, I hope someone is enjoying them and seeng my struggles and attempts helps them with problems of their own. If there is anyone out there who's afraid she's (or he's) making a mistake or afraid to continue with a project, feel free to ask me about it. I've been hoping there's some kind of award for Dumb Questions and Hindsight Wisdom - I'd be a shoo-in! You'd have to really work hard 24/7 to find a mistake I haven't made before you, so go ahead and ask. I'll be happy to share or give you a warning if it's something I've done then thought better of for some reason.

Being a reader a (very) long time before I was a writer, I really appreciate the authors who have written all the good books I've enjoyed and would be glad to hear from readers, writers, or someone who is thinking of writing a novel. The main thing is to get started. You can always rewrite or proof, but you have to have something to work with first.

Good luck on all your resolutions for a great 2008!
Break's over!

2008-01-17T14:29:00.000-08:00

NEW BOOKS, NEW CONTRACT, Everything's new but me! This new 2008 has started busy if not profitable (royaltywise ) I'm still squeezing ink cartridges out of the grocery list more times than than not but I'm still writing. I'm taking my DH husband's advice and writing because I like to write. I miss him something terrible but I can see how right he was about a lot of things.

Though I had two books come out in 2007: RECIPE FOR TROUBLE (cozy mystery); SPANISH EYES (romance-suspense)I will have none coming out in 2008. I'm pleased about my contract with Zumaya Publications for the entire Maryvale series though. This is for the two already in print to be published again by them (TR); the TR of the hardback mentioned above; and a new Maryvale mystery each year as long as I can see the monitor. Then I received a contract for a hardback of STRANGER IN PARADISE, a romance suspense and have already spent the small advance on riotous living (groceries and bills :-)) I've also sent out a cozy mystery which is now being read by the hardback publisher, and have sent two novels to an audio publisher to read.

All this boils down to: STRANGER IN PARADISE (romance-suspense) will be out Feb. of 2009. The first Maryvale cozy mystery will be out in June or July of 2009. I'm hoping to hear the hardback publisher also wants my new MS (cozy mystery) I sent him sometime during 2009 plus I'm also hoping to hear that the audio publisher likes one or both of the novels I sent to them. So I'm sure Jim and my fellow writers (local and e-mail) will approve that I'm working.:-)

All the above except the ones which have not been scheduled yet (STRANGER IN PARADISE is 'in the works' ) are up on Amazon. You can also go to www.jackiegriffey.com and see a page for each of my books. Please feel free to write coments or ask questions, I love to hear from readers and fellow writers. All you have to do is Google Jackie Griffey's Books to go directly to my page and this blog -which I'm going to do my best to keep current (my only resolution for 2008 besides to keep writing which I always make :-))

Gotta get back to work (I'm working on another Maryvale mystery). Break's over!

2007-07-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

Dear readers: It's been a long, sad time since my last blog. My husband, Jim the Gem (:-) who called himself the mail room sometimes, bless him) passed away suddenly. It was an aneurism on the abdominal aorta and has left me and our family just stunned. We are taking one day at a time and managing and carrying on as he expects us to. He's at rest at Roselawn in Little Rock not far from where his mother and father are, with his grandmother up a small hill from him. My name is being lettered on the niche beside him. We would have been married sixty years Dec. 3, 2007 and we were enjoying life and each other and making plans right up until death parted us. Save any tears for those who haven't lived, or didn't have a wonderful soul mate like I did. I'm grateful for the life we had together.

Jim always told me, don't worry if you don't make any money (boy, is that a sign of the times :-) He said just "write because you want to." And that's what I'm going to do. About a month ago I got a contract from the publisher with whom I already have two books for the entire Maryvale series of cozy mysteries now in print: The Devil in Maryvale; The Nelson Scandal; Recipe for Trouble, which just came out in May, 2007 in hardback, for the TR; and another Maryvale each year for as long as I can see the monitor. :-)

There is also another hardback romance-suspense (Spanish Eyes) coming out in hardback in Sept., 2007 so do watch Amazon, the publishers pages, and my site for more news.

Thank you to all who got in touch and e-mailed me.

Love,
Break's over!
Jackie

2007-06-20T08:22:00.000-07:00

GOOD NEWS! Friends, my Maryvale series has a home! I've just sent back a signed contract for: THE DEVIL IN MARYVALE; THE NELSON SCANDAL; and the TR for the (hardback just out this past month) third, RECIPE FOR TROUBLE.

The contract also includes the new Maryvale I'm working on now (thumbnail will follow in another post) and for a Maryvale mystery each year.

I'm thrilled to have them all in the same place at last - with the provision I can still send other things other places, no problem there.

Anyone who is interested, Vista is now having one of its card sales - 250 cards (which you can design yourself) for S&H only - about $5.95 - a few cents less than $6.00 - a good deal.

Anyone who wants to ask questions or tell me about his/her successes and new novels or other goodies, please leave a comment or e-mail me. I'd love to hear about them.

From the author who asks the question "Has my alligator mouth made promises my tadpole a--s can't keep? Tune in next week! :-) Break's overl!

2007-06-05T13:12:00.000-07:00

I'm baaaaaaaak!!! It's been a long time, hasn't it? First problem was - as usual - me. I had trouble with changing to my Google password; a few Microsoft problems (doesn't everybody??); and been busier than a cat on a hot, chiseled-in-stone publisher. My new cozy mystery, RECEIPE FOR TROUBLE is now out in hardback from Five Star Publishing and it's gorgeous. When you get tired of admiring it, read it, it's the third in the Maryvale series and all those characters are busy, busy, busy, too :-)

This one starts off with a bang - an explosinon in Mattie Carrington's home as she starts writing her second cookbook; puts up with her sister and her sister's boyfriend's hovering (which is about equal parts aggravation and comic relief); then when she rents a cabin on the lake to work in peace, someone poisons her. Then her cousin,Miss Minnie, a friend of Sheriff Cas Larkin and his wife Connie, is accused. Sounds like a recipe for truble, doesn't it? It is, that's the spot Cas is in, with Mattie in a coma; Minnie afraid for herself and Mattie; and the headline-hungry DA pressing for an arrest as Cas hunts for the would-be murderer.

Another book, a romance-suspense novel titled SPANISH EYES is scheduled for September, 2007. Watch for it - gotta go. Break's over (for now :-))

2007-03-06T11:34:00.000-08:00

E-Book Week is upon us! E-Book Week is from March 4-10, so go to Fictionwise (or other e-book places) and check out my e-books, Patricia Rasey's (she has gobs of neat ones), and all the other goodies available.

Another good thing: Zumaya Publications is offering e-books (by consenting writers) two for the price of one and two of mine are on their list: MEMPHIS IN OUR HEARTS-hist. romance-suspense, and ONCE BURNED-contemporary romance-suspense. Of course, I hope you'll look at the others I have on Fictiowise as well. Another couple of good things about the Zumaya e-book offer is there are so many good ones to choose from and you don't have to buy both books from the same author - mix 'em up any way you want to, and happy reading!

My two new 2007 books are making it through the publishing process, I've got the covers and the galleys on RECIPE FOR TROUBLE which is scheduled to come out in May, 2007 and am waiting for the galleys on SPANISH EYES which is scheduled to come out in Sept., 2007. More about them later :-) (unless you have any questions, which I'll be glad to answer.)
Break's over!
Jackie
www.jackiegriffey.com, Amazon.com, or just Google me at Jackie Griffey's Books...

2007-02-19T08:09:00.000-08:00

New PAGE TURNERS newsletter announcement. I've just signed up for this interesting newsletter. It's got things for readers, writers (published or unpublished in all genres) and tips on writing and promo plus all sorts of interesting things about new books coming out, maybe some background too.

The background and research in writing a book is as interesting as a novel all by itself - and people do tend to 'open up' to a writer :-)

Some of the experiences readers and writers have should be good for a chuckle while they broaden our educations as well.

Anyone interested in signing up, the first newsletter will come out March 1 so I don't know all the particulars yet. I do know it sounds really interesting as well as instructive and I've signed up. Also, if you decide it's not for you, you can cancel at any time. Anyone interested in signing up or more information, plese let me know by sending me a 'comment' here.

Of course, I hope you will be interested since I'm going to be the featured writer in Sept. 2007 - let me know if you want to know more.
Break's over!

2007-02-10T08:25:00.000-08:00

Library News! Went to my hometown library to tell them about my new books coming out in 2007 - I had donated a book a little over a year ago and a lot of people who read it contacted me to get a signed copy to keep (pause to feel good and grateful :) )

To make a long story short, Christine Williams was a joy to talk with and visit and shd - she had already ordered all my other books but one! She ordered that one and also promised to get the two new ones coming out in May and September.

If there are any of my fellow writers and sibs reading this, go to your local library and tell them about your book(s)!

Please go to my web page or google me and check for the new ones on Amazon. Good luck with yours, too.

Cozy mystery lovers, the new book (hardback) coming out in May is the third of the Maryvale series; Spanish Eyes is a romance-suspense coming out in Sept. Happy reading - break's over!

2007-02-02T08:22:00.000-08:00

NEW BOOK! I've just received the cover of my new book, SPANISH EYES - a romance-suspense novel which will be posted on Amazon soon (and my URL - WWW.jackiegriffey.com too :-))

This is one of two coming out in 2007, the other is a cozy mystery (third in the Maryvale series) and it's 'in the works' now.

Please go to my web page for thumbnails and other information (or just Google Jackie Griffey's Books to go to the page, my blog, and other information. Please leave a message on my guest book if you visit, I'd love to hear from you. :-)

Break's over!

SPANISH EYES

2006-12-16T12:29:00.000-08:00

Second Sweet Nothing: Sugar Free Chocolate Latte

CHOCOLATE LATTE (hot, good, and other goodies optional)

2/3 cup or mug of HOT coffee (whatever you favorite is)
1 heaping teaspoon (or two if you're a chocoholic)
Stir well
1 or 2 tbs. sugar free chocolate or vanilla sugar free ice cream
Stir just enough to get flaver all through and still hot enough to sip
SIP and enjoy

Garnish with cool whip and cheery if you want to.

Have a wonderful warm and happy holiday with family and friends. See ya next year, take care :-)
Break's over!

2006-11-20T11:59:00.000-08:00

SWEET NOTHINGS - well, almost. Here is the first of the recipies I promised to post for all of us watching our sugar intake and dieting in general. When I was diagnosed with diabetes II two years ago, I got so tired of what I could eat and should eat that I just didn't eat. Lost too much too soon. I knew my clothes would hang, but nobody told me my skin wouldn't fit either! Anyway, I've leveled out and as I told you before, I've Frankensteined up some of my favorite recipes so I can enjoy eating again. Today's Sweet Nothing is Oatmeal Coconut Cookies:

OATMEAL COCONUT COOKIES

3/4 cup shortening, soft (low cal margarine)
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar (1 cup=96 grams sugar)
2 eggs (large)
1 tsb. water
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. soda
CREAM first six ingredients
ADD 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour, mix w/spatula
ADD 3 cups Quaker quick oats, uncooked
8 tbs. coconut (apprix, 29 grans sugar-1/2 of 3.5 oz. can Bakers Coconut)
BLEND allwith spatula, then with mixer
COOL in refrigerator while making second batch - they freeeze well
DROP by teaspoonfuls (a little smaller than an English walnut) on greased cookie sheet.
BAKE in 350 degree preheated oven about 12-15 minutes till lightly brown around edges. Makes 5 dozen.
OPTIONAL: After pressing with floured ladle or end of glass, make thumbprint and fill with Smucker's Sugar Free jelly. (I like peach and apricot)
SUGAR GRAMS:Brown sugar (96 gr) + 8 tbs. coconut (20 gr)= 116 grams
48 cookies - 2.4 grams sugar per cookie
60 cookies - 1.9 grams sugar per cookie
OPTIONAL: Make two batches every time and wrap bater in small foil pakages to freeze for a quick pan or two of cookies when you want them.
WARNING: These convenient little batter packages tend to go home with friends, sisters, and grown children - make plenty - enjoy!

COMING SOON: Peanut butter cookie recipe and sugar free chocolate latte.
Break's over!

2006-10-13T06:03:00.000-07:00

RETIRING (AGAIN) It's been a while since I've blogged but I'm back and will probably be back more often. With the ever-present stuff already scheduled, I've got the Midwest Mystery Fest in St. Louis behind me (it was great, any writer who's reading this, check it out and go next year - great workshops, great panels, lots of good writers and good books - go and enjoy). Also have everything done right down through all the ancillary material for my two books coming out in 2007 (SPANISH EYES, amystery-romance coming in Sept. 2007; RECIPE FOR TROUBLE, a cozy mystery, coming in May, 2007, both from Five Star (and I'm working on another one, a romance for them - wish me luck!)
What I retired from was writing my weekly column for a newspaper in Memphis, I just had too many deadlines, and not enough time for coffee with hubby, not to mention baking a few cookies. I noticed Pat Browning, talented author of FULL CIRCLE, who has a blog here, has posted some recipes, so maybe I'll get brave enough to share one too. Since I learned I have diabetes II a couple of years ago (Halloween night 2004-Egad! what timing!) I've been looking for something that has any decent taste at all and no sugar. Well, I've Frankenstiened up a couple of my favorites so they won't kill me and I'm going to post them on my next blog. So- stay tuned for the next (fillin' if not ) thrillin' episode!
Break's over!

2006-09-19T11:47:00.000-07:00

VIP here!!! (Well, I did feel like one, briefly.) I've just got home from the Midwest Mystery Fest in St. Louis, Mo. - well, actually, St. Charles. The college where it was held was just right for the invasion of all of us mystery writers and our ideas (and help - there was beaucoups of that as well as the great fellowship and fun). The conference rooms were great and the people who came to speak to us were generous with their knowledge and time. Everything from copyrights, building character, place, suspense, and as Ed McMahan says - everything you need to know about writing a mystery novel - right there at that college in Mo. I drank it all in, made notes, and learned a lot - besides which I got to meet some fellow writers with whom I'd exchanged e-mail or read about on our SinC-ic digest.
We only had 10 to 15 minutes between sessions to sign our books, buy the books we wanted, or run up the hall to the john. LOL Nobody wanted to miss a minute of the expertise gathered there. The habit of learning was so ingrained, by the timeI got back to my motel, I finally learned how to make coffee in one of those little plastic gizmos you see everywhere. And guess what? It's GOOD! (My cup runneth over - LOL).
I had to fly to St. Louis, since my DH didn't want to go, and though I wanted to travel light I still had to take a small case for toothpaste, lipstick, hair spray, and other potentially leathal weapons. I crammed all that and some extra undies in and checked the case. So I had nothing but my purse to drop in the security basket, but they wanted my boots too!! Walked all the way to the gate in my socks - no problem - felt good, in fact. Now I'm home, having thrown away everything I could without getting arrested, and packed books-books-books! One fellow writer I had to write a check and she's going to mail me her book, so I'm set for good reading and my Visa may recover enough for a few (inexpensive) gifts by Christmas time.
Anyway, I'm home safe and happy. Break's over!

2006-09-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

Off to St. Louis! I've got everything done and sent in on my two books coming out in 2007 complete with ancillary material; my sister is over her operation and had all her stitches and staples out yesterday (doing well); my daughter is in the top 19 of her nursing school class; and now my DH, Jim, is sick! :-( My Jim who is healthier than an oak or an alligator! Upset stomach and other discomforts too small (according to him) to go in and have some tests run. He's better right now and our live-in nurse will see that he gets better or goes to the ER :-) Of course, I may have to hitchhike to the airport... Any prayers on our behalf will be appreciated.
Break's over! (And while you're praying, wish me good luck, good contacts at the Midwest Mystery Fest too :-))

2006-08-15T05:53:00.000-07:00

Local book sales are up! Unless a writer is famous and on the best seller list these days, selling one's books is more like a 'cottage industry' than anything else. The main and most wonderful thing I've got to date, is people like my books - and tell me about it! :-) The people in my hometown who have standing orders for my next book has grown (from three to five :-), plus the occasional sales. I told you it's a cottage industry. LOL) With the first of my Maryvale series, THE DEVIL IN MARYVALE alrady out, on the net and Amazon, (and The Group has already read it!), and all five of The Group has already bought THE NELSON SCANDAL before Amazon.com even has it posted, I'm sitting here grinning like a cat full of cream. On top of that, the third cozy of the series, RECIPE FOR TROUBLE, has a contract for a hardback tucked into its file. Its scheduled for May of 2007, along with a romance-suspense novel titled SPANISH EYES.

My husband and I went to visit his brother in St. Augusting, FL three weeks ago and we stopped by by New Orleans to do a little research I need for the next Maryvale cozy mystery. (I wanted to be sure Cafe du Monde was open when I sent my characters down there - it was :-))

If anyone reading this is thinking of writing a book - any book or article - any genre, the thing to do is: TA - DAH! SIT DOWN AND START WRITING. You can fix, change, proof, and rewrite to your (or an editor's) heart's content - but first, you have to have something to work on. This is the precious, golden, sought after secret, sibs - write! (It's as simple as that, good luck :-))

Break's over!

2006-08-06T11:14:00.000-07:00

THE NELSON SCANDAL is now out and will be up on Amazon soon if it's not already there
(I haven't got around to checking) I'm just glad it's out. There was some kind of problem the publisher had with the printer (I doubt if I'd understand what, even if they explained it to me, which they didn't), so I'm just glad it's available now. THE NELSON SCANDAL is the second in my Maryvale series that takes place in rural TN up above Memphis and Nashville (I poured over the map for days as I wrote it : - )). Sheriff Cas Larkin has two homicides on his hands when his wife, Connie, encounters classic haunting conditions in the county library basement - (talk about a cold case- LOL). Pursuing hot clues and cold paper trails, Cas and his matchmaking wife, Connie, investigate four murders, two of them more than a hundred years old. Go check it out on Amazon or my page (please!!!)
More soon, break's over!

2006-07-24T08:24:00.000-07:00

BEIGNET BULLETIN! Those heavenly beignets with your cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde in New Orleans are GOOD WITHOUT SUGAR, TOO! Not that I didn't dip a little since I've been good on my 'sugar-shunning' diet.
Its good to be home though. We made a really quick trip from here (Cabot - about 40 miles north of Little Rock, Arkansas) to St. Augustine, FL to see my DH's brother and his wife. The tracks Rita and Katrina are still visible, but life is going on - and construction? Wow! We had a good visit and it was an interesting trip but anywhere we go just confirms my feeling that "This is IT!" I don't want to live any farther north because I don't like cold and ice, but I don't want to live any farther south either, because I don't like humidity, bugs, or reptiles of any discription - not to mention mold and mildew.
We stopped in New Orleans because I wanted to get a little information at the Cafe du Monde. I heard they had used the power outage to do a general cleaning and overhaul and install some new equipment, too. That's where I made the wonderful discovery that beignets are good even without sugar. Before I found out I have Diabetes II (not bad, a little pill controls it - just no sugar or too many carbs) when Jim and I stopped for beignets and cafe au lait I looked suspiciously like what I couldn't eat I just rubbed in : - ) with all the powdered sugar that dropped off the good little things. Also talked to the manager and found out some things about what they'd done and the down time, etc. A very nice fellow, and I'm going to give him an acknowledgement when I use the inf. I got in a coming Maryvale cozy. (A couple of my characters are going to get involved in a murder in NO - but that's another story - literally!:-))
Despite the damage, heat, and cop cars lined up bumper to bumper on Canal street (troopers and all) it was a good visit, but we're glad to be home. Break's over!

2006-07-13T05:48:00.000-07:00

The hurrier I go, the behinder I get! That's what it seems like this week. I'm getting ready to leave town for about eight days and you'd think I was a toddler there's so much preparation attached to this simple jaunt. Remember all the clothes, diapers, bottles, the long list of things not to forget when you have to go somewhere with your children? Well, guess what? The second childhood has just as much baggage! My husband and I had already got used to gathering up our spare parts when we leave the house (reading glasses being the main things) but there's more preparation if you're going to be gone a week or more. Besides all the household things, I had to e-mail three columns so I wouldn't have to worry about getting back on schedule.

Taking stock of the refrigerator and what's there and not there and in the freezer only took a glance since my grown children will be here at the time (and nobody likes the same thing much less at the same time, when it comes to eating. So it's 'feel free' - there's stuff to eat in or eat out - self serve - help yourself - you know where the store is - plumber, electrician numbers in the proper place in case needed - Please God, don't let them be needed!)

I did notice in passing, a couple of UFOs in the freezer. That's Unidentified Frozen Objects. One of those things that's not labeled or the label fell off, hard as a rock, weird shape - toss back, worry later... I've got one foot out the door.

Please don't forget where you left me and come back, I'll be back around the end of the month and blogging again. Break's over!

2006-07-03T14:40:00.000-07:00

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! God bless America and please, Lord, God bless our dear children and sons and husbands, our troops. Show us the way home and bring us all safely back.

My thirty days after the Fourth will be made happier by a contract now in the mail to me to sign for a new novel. Its name is SPANISH EYES and it's a romance-suspense.
Logline: "Eleana arrives in Las Flores, Texas from Mexico to work and contact her brother, Carlos. But when she arrives, Carlos has disappeared and her sister-in-law may have entred the country illegally. Desperately searching for her brother, Eleana meets a handsome artist who offers to help and can make everything better - or much worse! Eleana walks a frightening tightrope of fear and deception between her family, the authorities, and her love..."

Cyber hugs to all of you and your loved ones. Break's over!

2006-06-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

OOPS! Correction: I put in a comma instead of a dot! : - ( Kelsy George's URL should be: www.kelsygeorge.com. (Sorry, Kelsy : - ))

Quick while I've got your attention (REALLY shameless BSP - he!he!he!) I went to the Arkansas Writers Conference June 2 & 3 and won a couple of prizes in their contests: third in Non-Fiction humor, and TA-DA! First in Screenwriting.

Naturally, this gave me delusions of grandeur and I'd like to find an agent who could maybe sell my reading script. The Guild doesn't list which agents will look at us unknowns or which are interested in mystery or horror. If anyone knows where to find such a list I'd sure like to know about it (just as soon as I get back down to the floor : - ))

Anyone who could use a chuckle to start the day on, scroll down to my blog on making bread - I was hard up for news and put one of my columns in that day.

All you wonderful, talented mystery writers keep writing. I was a reader a long time before I was a writer (Well, I AM - the jury's just still out on how good), and I appreciatcha!
Break's over!

2006-06-14T11:43:00.000-07:00

Blog Tab BSP: I've changed the rules! I'm changing the Q & A format to a mention of some mystery writers I like who aren't on the NY Times Best Seller list(yet) but should be. Here they are, in alphabetical order with some of their books and where to get more inf. The * denotes copies I've got on my shelf at the moment. (I'd have *ed the ones on my TBR list but I'd wear out my *!!!LOL

ANDERSON, BETH: *Second Generation; Murder Online; Night Sounds:; and more at www.bethanderson-hotclue.com. You've got to stop and visit with Hotclue...

BAKER, SUSAN P.: (newest one) Death of a Prince; *My First Murder (first of Mavis Davis series); and more at: www.susanpbaker.com. Next Mavis Davis will be out the first of 2007.

BROWNING, PAT: Full Circle, a good read with more to come. The next adventure in Pearl will involve and old Chinese cemetery, for more inf. type Pat Browning in Search and go to her Authors Den page, blog spot and other interesting places. Watch for the announcement of her next book in the series, Winter Moon.

CRUSE: LONNIE: Murder in Metropolis (series); first of her new Fifty-Seven series will be out in early 2007 and sounds like 'speedy' good fun. Go to www.lonniecruse.com for more inf. (& fasten your seatbelts!)

FOERTMEYER, C. H.: Bewildered is just the tip of the iceberg, lots to choose from here. If you like ghosts and good reads, take your choice here at:www.foertmeyer.com.

GEORGE, Kelsy: Blind Justice; Deja You; No Bull; and Kill a Painted Pony, and more, e-books too, go to www,kelsygeorge.com.

MARTIN, NANCY: *How to Murder a Millionaire and more hilarity with the Blackbird Sisters in this series (while you're browsing, check out the Lipstick Chronicles too.) www.nancymartinmysteries.com.

McGRAW, MARJA: *The Secrets of Holt House, and more from someone who really knows how to write a cozy - she started out with two of my favorite things, a big house old enough to be full of secret passages and (joy!) an estate sale! There's another cozy in the works, watch for it at www.marjamcgraw.com.

NOTE: Amazon.com will give you free S&H on orders of more than $25.00. I think it has to say the book you choose is eligible for this. I remember wondering if a used books were included in this offer. (It was!)

Break's over!

2006-06-06T08:08:00.000-07:00

Blog Tag Answers: I'm going to change the rules after I give you my answers and give you a list of really good mystery and cozy writers you may not have discovered as yet. I'll put it on next as Tag Twist. For now, here are my answers:

Q. Name 4 movies you would watch over and over
The Sound of Music with Julie and all those wonderful songs
My Fair Lady with Audrey and more wonderful songs (I could have listened all night!)
Naughty Marietta (an oldie but a goodie & may perpetual light shine upon Nelson and Jeanette!)
Walt Disney's Pinnochio (yep, I still wish on stars)
Just about anything that's musical or funny...

Q. Name 4 places you have lived:
Hot Springs, Arkansas
Memphis, Tennessee
Redondo Beach, California
Cabot (near Little Rock), Arkansas (I'm home!)

Q. Name 4 TV shows you love to watch:
CSI Las Vegas
Bones
Ghost whisperer
(Loved Magnum PI and Murder She Wrote)

Q. Name 4 of your favorite foods:
Dark chocolate, good beef, ice cream, fresh fruit ('specially big, ripe, red Delicious Apples from Washington or Oregon.

Q. Name 4 web sites you visit daily:
My or a friend's web site
Both my e-mail identities
Anything I want to check out suggested in one of the digests or newsletters I take.
My local writing group's comments

Q. Name 4 places you would rather be right now.
None. I'm home. I like it here. It could use a little work though, anyone wanting to buy a book please check Amazon or type my name in Search - my info. is all over the net like a kitty looking for tuna! LOL

Please check next blog for the writers I told you about.
Break's over!

2006-05-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

Conngratulations to ME! I'm such a klutz and and an eyelash away from being just plain computer illiterate, any small electronic accomplishment is Hallelujah time for me.

The above picture is the one the president of The Penpoint Group (our local writing group) took for me (notice the 'photo by Del Garrett' - I should have put 'many talented fellow and heck of a nice guy' but I didn't want to push my luck after I got the picture and the 'by' on the back cover.

This is the cover that will be on my book, THE NELSON SCANDAL which will be out shortly. I've just sent back galley, confirmation and all that good stuff and it's getting in line at the printers now. Ths is the second of my Maryvale cozy mystery series and I know I'll sell one copy since there's a ghost in it named after my sister (sneaky, aren't I?), but since this is the second one, maybe a few people who read the first one and got acquainted with the people in Maryvale will read this one (the first of the series is THE DEVIL IN MARYVALE and is all over the net like an affectionate kitty looking for tuna fish.)

As long as I'm on this BSP roll, the third of the Maryvale series has a nice contract tucked into its folder and will be published by another publisher soon. The name of it will be RECIPE FOR TROUBLE if the new publisher doesn't want to change it for some reason (since he sent me a nice advance and knows he won't be argued with - that's not gramatically correct but it's financially necessary : - ).

Now I need to figure out how to put some links on here (help is never any help to me - I need 'help for dummies who don't know the language') so I can put links to some of the really great writers on SinC-ic and others whose cozy mysteries I've enjoyed.

Anyone with any ideas that an electronic illiterate might be able to understand and use, I'd sur'n dern be glad to hear them!
Break's over!

Jackie

2006-05-11T12:08:00.000-07:00

Calling all frustrated bread bakers. This cold snap has set off my longing like some kind of virus -here's my weekly column with all the gory details:

THE SUNNY SIDE
by Jackie Griffey

Every time there's a little cool snap whether it's a holiday time or not, I and all the other homemade bread freaks get the urge (again) to bake. It's like gardeners getting the urge to plant from spring blossoms, or women (who may or not already be mamas) and their weakness for baby clothes.
All these built-in weaknesses and temptations make Sell It To You Land chortle with glee as they plan their little(?) plots to separate you from your money.
Since I'm a bread-freak, when this urge comes on, I always start out with the feeling if I just can find the right recipe, I can bake some delicious homemade bread.
And where else in this enlightened age would you go, but to the web? I browsed all kinds of recipes from Apple goodies to Zanzibar tropical menus and chose one as simple as I could find.
There's not a Bread Making for Dummies yet, but it's only a question of time. Besides, I always learn a lot from my efforts whether they're successful or not. Sometimes I learn a lot more from the ones that somehow went a little wrong (well, okay, sometimes a lot wrong!).
Looking ahead, putting the dud projects under the Things That Broadened My Education category in Stuff I Recall But Would Rather Forget, and filing it among my memoirs, helps a little.
This time, one of the things I found out while wading around in flour spilled on the floor of my kitchen, is that there is three teaspoons of yeast in those little square packages you can't get open with the scissors (if you can find the scissors without tracking gunk around the house).
After I found my measuring spoons by asking The Human Broom (my husband) where they and that favorite old mixing bowl of mine had been stashed when he was on one of his scary Put-Stuff-away Projects (thus alerting him of my thirtieth or fortieth time to try making homemade bread), I carefully measured the yeast and made a really though decision about what the recipe might mean by 'lukewarm' water.
I put the yeast in and stirred it around a little, and added the sugar the recipe called for. Boy! That stuff is a bigger sugar freak than I am! It guzzled up that sugar, bubbled and rose up like the Blob From Outer Space in that old horror movie!
I quickly poured it into the big mixing bowl and tied to suffocate it with the five cups of flour I had measured out. I'm not really sure how much went in the bowl and how much on the floor, so that will be guesswork next time the urge to back homemade bread strikes. (If this turns out to be THE recipe.)
The successful but messy attempt to save myself from the yeast blob (would that be called breadicide if it got me?), must have insulted it because it stopped rising - forever.
Never being one to concede defeat easily, I bravely used a glass to cut out the little two inch rounds and brushed them with melted butter. Both these things were major accomplishments and involved clever substitutions since The Human Broom has made off with my cutter and brush and I had to locate a glass the right size to cut them and use the end of a bottle brush to bush on the melted butter.
Nothing with as much sugar in it as that recipe called for could help but taste good, but the little monsters were definitely hazardous to dental work.
Since the baking urge struck on a Saturday I couldn't call around to see if there might be a market for slightly yeasty lollipops, so I channeled my energy into cleaning up the flour on the floor and all other surfaces in spattering range.
Anyone who knows me and has read any of my novels knows they always have a happy ending and so does this. There is a Sunny Side to all this.
The kitchen survived without permanent damage. I forgave The Human Broom for what he stashed or threw away. He forgave me for being a pack rat. (Pause for cheers!) And there are beautiful, fresh backed croissants for dinner. ( I stopped by the store and grabbed them from the frozen food section while none of those good cooks and that chubby guy on Breaking Bread with Father Dominic wasn't looking. )
Break's over!

2006-04-25T08:18:00.000-07:00

I'm a survivor! I feel like I've been wrestling a bear - and won! (at least, this round). Have had my new modem for nearly a month now and have got almost everything I need back on it, except still have a few problems with my e-mail. The bear I was wrestling was trying to get a script template to work. I got it downloaded all right but then couldn't use it! After calling loudly if not obscenely to all the so called help groups, I finally got it fixed by the good old trial and error (and stubborn persistence ) method. Got my reading script sent off to the copyright office.

As usual, most of my problem, c'est moi! I started out definitely computer illiterate when I got my first one and am still only an eyelash above 'don't know the language' in all phases of operation and non-operation. My only advice to fellow suffererss who are at the mercy of machines is - "HANG IN THERE!" Sooner or later you'll ethier figure out what the problem is, stumble onto it (this is my route most of the time), or one of those help groups will really help. (Don't count on that last one, just keep trying.)

If there's such a thing as reincarnation and you get a choice, I may just come back as a machine. You can't argue with those metal monsters and they have the world of knowledge to use, in every language on the globe! Talk about power!

Now that I'm enjoying comparative peace with my back bedroom full of smart metal, I'm going back to work. Break's over! : - )

2006-04-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

The BEAR I'm wrestling right now is a script template and it looks like the bear's winning! I've got a new modem, had it almost two weeks and still don't know my way around in it yet. Still trying to just get the things I need back on it - everything from my addresses and sig to the things I need just to get functional. Darned if it's not like being born naked and not knowing the language all over again!

Right now I'm about at the sitting up and rolling over stage of development since I was only about an eyelash above computer illiterate when I was sitting here all comfy with the old one. Now I've got to teach myself how to use this new machine with it's different names for different things and hunt up or download what tools I can find to work with - BECAUSE YOU CAN'T ARGUE WITH A MACHINE! : - ( Not that I haven't tried...

I had an idea it would be like this (little did I know!) is why I hung onto my old - my good old Compaq for so long. But it finally got to deleting things, and doing weird stuff and then (horrors!) corrupting files! So, it had to go. Now I'M GOING - NUTS, that is.

I hope there are a few people out there who occasionally check to see if I'm still alive. I know I am, couldn't have this many problems otherwise. I'm still here, still fighting. Should have this thing at least able to send and receive e-mail without wondering why things bounce pretty soon.

In case there are any budding Thomas Edisons out there, someone needs to invent (or just reprobram} a line of computers for people who write and lean heavily on the word processing and other tools. A machine without all the games and pure time-wasters the under 21 and bored old folks seem to want on a computer. Maybe a FUNputer and a WORKputer choice (yeah, that was bad.)

I'll concentrate on what I've got and the tools I've finally learned to use and get on the ball by next blog, I promise!
Break's over! :-)

Jackie

2006-03-01T08:20:00.000-08:00

With the sun pouring in on me and my Thirty Pounds of Smart Metal (my computer with an attitude) it looks like we've arrived at Springtime with only about two days of cold weather regardless of what the groundhog says.

Spring is going to be busy too. I've got a cozy mystery in the works (RECIPE FOR TROUBLE ) from Five Star and am waiting on galleys - I'll announce it here when I know when it will be out. and also, have just received word the first of that series is out of editing and will be coming out a an e-book soon. The Maryvale series has five cozies in it so far. The first, THE DEVIL IN MARYVALE is already in print and available, the second is finished but I haven't decided yet whether to self pub or sell it, the third, RECIPE FOR TROUBLE will be out some time this year (hardback), and I'm working on another, THE LADY IN THE LAKE between a contest entry for a local conference, proofing galleys etc.

Anybody wanting any more information can use the 'comments' or just type Jackie Griffey's Books into your Yahoo searth. There's everything there but a footprint I think (and if they want one, I'll try to figure out how to do that!) Or go to my web page: www.jackiegriffey.com

Break's over! : - )

2006-02-13T12:43:00.000-08:00

NEW PICTURE! It's about time, isn't it? The one I have on current book covers and bookmarks is from seven years and thirty pounds ago.

I've got two books in the works, both of them in the Maryvale series. The first of the series, THE DEVIL IN MARYVALE is already listed on the net from Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble to Wal-Mart.

The second, THE NELSON SCANDAL, is in the works and I'm waiting for the first galley on it.

The third in the series, RECIPE FOR TROUBLE, I've just sent back the signed contract on it and will post a notice when it will be ppublished as soon as I know.

Being a member of SinC International and SinC-ic, I've taken advantage of Amazon's shipping break and ordered four of my sib's books. With the work on these two books in the works and the order from Amazon, I'm set for the winter weather. Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow! Break's over!

2006-02-06T05:58:00.000-08:00

I'm back! My thirty pounds of smart metal is still recovering from its time in the shop, got a new mouse, working to catch up on all the things put on hold. My current book 'in the works' now has permission to use a quote from a fellow writer so I'm happy about her generous permission to use it. The quote is "Ignorance killed the cat. Curiosity was framed." by C. J. Cherryh. The book is the second in my Maryvale series of cozy mysteries and I needed it to use when the sheriff is trying to shame his match-making wife into minding her own business. (Nope, it didn't work - LOL.) She goes right on happily and alternatively helping and nosing into everything around her, including the local library's haunted basement.
Also, have received and returned signed contracts for the third Maryvale series. The third one is to be published by Five Star, I'll announce it on my page (www.jackiegriffey.com) and probably here too when it comes out.
The first Maryvale is THE DEVIL IN MARYVALE complete with a body, devil worship, cattle rustling and the good citizens of Maryvale, gifted and all. It introduces a psychic. The second is THE NELSON SCANDAL (the one now 'in the works') and has a medium in it (yes, she holds a seance). The third is the one on which I've just got a contract, RECIPE FOR TROUBLE. In it you will meet a healer (she may even be a guardian angel?)
Since 2006 has started out with all these machines working, there's no excuse not to get to work. Break's over!

2006-01-25T08:26:00.000-08:00

2006 is off to a good start. The second of my Maryvale series, THE NELSON SCANDAL is 'in the works' and hopefully will be out soon. Also, I've got a contract in the mail from another publisher for the third in the Maryvale series, RECIPE FOR TROUBLE. Please watch for both, they will be on the net from Amazon.com to Wal-Mart.
The sisters and brothers of Sisters in Crime are getting out good mysteries to keep us entertained in 2006 too, the interviews and new things coming out are exciting.
There's good news at my local writing group too. The North Little Rock Times is sendng a photographer to our next meeting (January 28) to take pictures and do a write-up on our group. We're pleased and excited about that and also about a possible new member who wrote for information and may show up at our next meeting too.
Still haven't heard from the Recycling Humanity reading script, but I've done all I can do except pray (and I'm definitely doing that : - )). Two producers and a literary agency are looking at it.
In the meantime, our next meeting is this Saturday. I've done my 'homework' - got my hair cut, and am really looking forward to it. Anyone in the LIttle Rock area or even close (our meetings are only once a month) please feel free to join us. We have poets, essayests, columnists, published and unpublished authors in all genres (except erotica) and you'll be welcomed with open arms.
Break's over!

2006-01-05T12:23:00.000-08:00

2006 resolutions should be a snap! Anyone who is tough enough and optimistic enough to have made it through 2005 is a shoo-in to make good resolutions and keep them. I sure don't have to be bothered about impulse buying in the coming year, being financially challenged as most of us are (translated that means 'broke as the Ten Commandments.') Not having any money really cuts down on the temptations. Don't have to worry about buying anything new to be decently covered either since I lost weight instead of gaining over the holidays. Diabetes II swept away my 'visions of sugar plums' - they're plumb gone is what they are. Necessity being the mother of invention, however, I invented myself a sugar free latte that's good and has (so far) kept me from attacking company and grabbing a bite of their dessert. If you didn't see the recipe when I posted it, let me know and I'll post it again or send it to you.

Well, there goes any shopping or dieting problems and since I don't smoke, there's not much left except to keep working. Unless of course, you want to count gambling. I guess I'll still gamble, everyone does. If you've ever married, ever had children, even in some cases, got out of bed this morning, you're a gambler. Everyone alive is.

Looking back on 2005 it's obvious the Griffey family had a whole series of miracles that helped us get through 2005. In fact, looking back at those miracles (and having been born optimist to the bone) I have started the year by betting a little less than a hundred dollars on myself across the board to win. I paid all the dues for the writing groups I'm in and am back on my writing schedule just as if my writing is as good as it is fun to do and the economy wasn't in the toilet with no one (including me) able to afford to buy all the books they want.

If I'm wrong and 2006 is even worse than 2005 - heck, maybe I can sell the movie rights?! : - ) I've promised the local people who enjoy my books that I'll write as long as I can see the monitor, so check from Amazon.com to Wal-Mart and at www.jackiegriffey.com for announcements (or just type Jackie Griffey's Books in your Yahoo search: mysteries, romances, humor... Happy New Year!
Break's over!

2005-12-28T11:28:00.000-08:00

2005 Miracles: Here we are at the end of the year and surely have used up all our miracles for this year. We've really had some great ones in our family this year to have made it to this point in time. The last one really put the frosting on the cake. I'd been having some health problems and had lectures from my DH and children about putting up my (admittedly humongous big and beautiful frosted ) Christmas tree. I switched to artificial so my leaving it up too long wouldn't be a fire hazard (I get all kinds of those 'for my own good' lectures - think that's the penalty for having raised children right or some other catch 22 situation). Anyway, I said, "So, it may take me a while, I'm not going anywhere) and proceeded to prepare a (as I said, admittedly humongous) cleared out place for my beloved Christmas tree. This is where the miracle comes in. The very afternoon I got the space ready my daughter got a call from Petals and Plants (a wonderful florist place full of goodies) - she had won a 7 FOOT DECORATED CHRISTMAS TREE! They delivered it, touched up the decorations and made sure all the lights worked - a beautiful designer thing of beauty and I didn't have to do a thing (or get lectured : - )). Looking right now at the last(?) miracle of 2005 - who could doubt great things are coming in 2006! If I can remember how to do it I'll try to put a picture of it on this blog. In this one (if it works) I'm holding two of my books. My grandson got me a Lexar Jump Drive to put my MSs on. Hope everyone reading thi;s had a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukka, Kwaanza and Happy Holidays full of love. And have a wonderful 2006. Break's over, and 2005 too. Pray, work, love, good luck to all of us.

2005-11-25T08:17:00.000-08:00

I'm a Thanksgiving Survivor! It's all done but the creative handling of leftovers - a good way to practice for Christmas and look at the space left for more. I figure I can coast for two more days without having to cook since everybody seems to have brought home his or her favorite snack weakness from the grocery store. And I can resist temptation with my 'good enough to make Starbucks jealous' lattes. Here is the recipe for anyone who is dieting, diabetic, or just watchin' what you eat:

LIGHT LATTE

1 (generous) tsp. of sugar-free hot chocolate mix
Stir into 2/3 cup of HOT coffee
1 or two generous tsps. of sugar free ice cream
Stir enough to get the flavor all through with some left on top
Optional: Add Cool Whip if you want it

The only calories in it are from the sugar free ice cream - and there's no sugar at all - enjoy!

That old saying that there aren't any calories in any of the feasting during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays doesn't hold true if you're over thirty. You'll be wearing that extra piece of sweet potato pie and the dressing with the rich gravy on your hips till Easter if you don't watch it.

Some things we can do to escape temptation are: (1) Freeze leftovers so you won't keep on overeating like the little old gramma who got fat from shame. (Shame to throw this out - shame to throw that out - you know how it goes).

(2) Serve low calorie foods like lean turkey breast, no dressing, no desserts, (no profanity - and hope you don't get voted out of the family.)

(3) Go to a friend or relative's house and blame your calorie splurge on them.

(4) Tell everybody you are eating all this good Thanksgiving stuff and stuffing yourself at Christmas so you'll have some goals for New Year's resolutions. The rest of your company wll be too busy eating to doubt your word.

(5) Package a lot up to go home with grown children. (This is the most popular one).

Of course, older 'empty nest' couples could just eat out Thankgiving. There would be no tempting left overs, but in my opinion there wouldn't be anything to be thankful for either. I like the scents, excitement, and the food too. I vote to keep the kids and coulnt the calories. Enjoy!

2005-11-18T05:51:00.000-08:00

Hallelujah, my computer's home from the shop! I hope there are still some people cheking in to see if I'm back and what's new. It's great to have this little metal monster back and be able to work again. What's new is a new hard drive.

Of course there are some little bugs to work out, like:
(1) My two e-mail IDs are mixed up.
(2) The address book on one of them has disappeared into cyberspace.
(3) The other e-mail won't send mail.
(4) I can't get on the internet.
(5) The blamed thing still needs to go to charm school. It's blunt, hateful, and knows darn well you can't argue with a machine.

Other than those little problems (which I've got solved all except getting the addresses back) everything's ready to get back to workin' and bloggin and havin' fun. Break's over!

2005-10-10T14:02:00.000-07:00

LESS IS MORE! welcome to Breaktime again. Now that it's not too hot to go into the kitchen, I guess you'd call it 'baking and cooking' season again.

That means everybody who's making money on us poor unfortunates who are counting calories and watching how much sugar there is in everything have got all the old products and some new ones too, to appeal to our appetites and 'impulse' buying temptations. One of the really good things is I discovered is 'sugar free' cinnamon rolls with icing! And they're good!

Of course keeping an eye on calories, costs, and what's good for us includes not only reading all the labels but price shopping too. One of the first things that is glaringly obvious is that less is now more - more money, that is. I was already resigned to the fact that in spite of hot chocolate being on sale about every other week for ninety-nine cents, the sugar free is never-ever on sale.

While the several brands of those convenient little envelopes are on sale for that appealing ninety-nine cent price, the sugar free chocolate is never less than a dollar forty-nine and most of the time it's two and a half hard earned bucks. Unfortunately, I'm addicted to it (it makes a great tasting sugar free latte that's better than Starbucks when you add it and sugar free ice cream to your afternoon coffee.

None-the-less, the larder being just about depleted, I knew that trip to stock up some things was due. A growling stomach, an empty pantry, and a few (not even subtle) requests from my family sent me on a much needed trek to the grocery store yesterday.

Of course I wore comfortable shoes since I stock up on stuff that has a long shelf life to keep from having to come back so soon, and check into everything they happen to have on sale this week. All this time consuming stuff is in addition to 'reading every label in the store' (which my husband accuses me of!)

Well, why should the Pure Food and Drug Association make them put all that information on the labels if nobody read them or wanted to know what's in all that stuff. Like, the amount of sugar, sodium, and that other stuff I couldn't pronounce even if I knew what it was. Then of course there's the legalese on anything from aspirin on up which keeps all the organs in your ailing body from suing them for ruining your kidneys, liver, or absolute Stephen King horrors warnings if you're pregnant or even have ideas about getting that way.

The main thing I look at is the amount of one serving in a thing and the number of calories in it. Did you know you can eat sixteen of the new 'lower calorie' Pringles and only consume one hundred and forty calories? That means I can have eight of the little goodies for only seventy (dangerous, fat producing) calories. Bought them, put them in the cart - on to thinner, healthier, and hopefully some good bargains. (Remember those? Back in the pre-economy in the toilet days?)

It only took me about two aisles to see there is every kind of fat-free, sugarless, full of vitamin C good stuff available to keep you in good enough shape to toddle up the aisles and buy all their good stuff.

I had another great epiphany on aisle three. LESS IS MORE! It costs money to be thin and healthy and look good. You can go broke right there in the grocery store without investing in an expensive spa or plastic surgery!

More often than not, the little quickie envelopes of hot chocolate are on sale for ninety-nine cents - but not the sugar-free ones. The sugar free ones are two dollars and forty-nine cents and are never-ever on sale!

I checked my list of the 'I wants' from my family, got as healthy as I thought we could afford and ran for the parking lot. (While I still could!). Good luck on your next adventure in eating. Break's over!

2005-09-26T14:55:00.000-07:00

ONE GOOD RITA! Coming so close on the havoc wrecked by Katrina this storm was really painful. Our evacuee centers were winding down having all but about thirty people placed in care centers, temporary quarters, and some in homes of their own and sending their children to sign up for school when news came of the people coming from Texas. This one good Rita is my daughter, Marita (nickname Rita - and has she got razzed about it : -)). She has been an LPN for twenty years then when her husband died two years ago, she got all her ducks in a row, took more than a year, and moved back home to go back to school and get her RN. The school gave them ID slips and said anyone wanting to do at least 4 hours volunteer work would get a few extra points. No one even asked how many, they all took them and headed for Little Rock.

When Marita handed the first woman she came to her slip the woman gave her a frown and said if you're only going to be here one day we can't use you! Two women beyond her were waving wildly and shouting Here! Come HERE! She went. (One of the group she went to help told Marita the woman she saw first was 'from Michigan and don't know no better!') Don't write me about the good people in Michigan, I know some of them too.

About dark I get worried about where all the family is and Marita doesn't have a cell phone but she came in a little after that and told us the work and help was going well and everyone was getting whatever they needed and money was given to those who had managed to get a room or something for themselves. On the lighter side, we soon learned how to recognize the refugees from the storm - not by Texas or La. license plates or by pillows and quilts and baby seats in the back. The real tip-off is the several rolls of toilet tissue! : - )

We haven't seen much on the news about the insurance companies in La. and Miss. or TX. I guess there was so much else to cover and so many didn't have flood insurance in New Orleans it was just another minor detail behind getting people out safely. Having worked in the insurance business for seventeen years though I know the CAT teams are down there doing what they can to see what is covered and how they can help their insureds.

The female insurance claim adjuster in my ONCE BURNED novel is based on the independent claim offices who courted our business in times like this. That office is where I learned to hate the phone. My favorite place on our five rural acres is the yard swing where I can't hear it ring! We, the Little Rock Claim office) were favored(?) with lots of visits from our Regional Office (Miss) and the first thing all those otherwise intelligent execs did was call everyone they knew in the state, leave no message what they wanted, told no one where they were going or when they would be back, THEN LEFT! Who wouldn't hate the phones?

That's also where I learned to pick a lock. Someone who never claimed credit for the idea decreed we should keep the supply room locked, gave each unit head a key and ignored the fact you could never find one of them. I asked the unofficial incharage fellow once for his key to the supply room. He said sure, and handed me a letter opener! He showed me how to use it so I had no more problems with that.

I loved my job, the people I worked with, and now I'm enjoying writing in my retirement. Who knows, I might even come to like PHONES! Break's over!

2005-09-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

Time for a small break again. Along with keeping up with the progress being made in New Orleans and sister states as well as ours, the evacuees here in Arkansas are all beng housed, fed, and given the health care they need. (Along with some heartfelt hugs and welcomes : - )) About thirty thousand so far have decided to stay in Arkansas at least for a year or so and a good percentage are already in their own houses and enrolling their children in school. Food and supplies continue to come in because they're still needed. The Air Force Base in nearby Jacksonville has the runways and space to deploy the big planes coming in from Egypt, Europe, and other places and our native hearts are getting as much joy and benefit as the people torn from their homes. Looking in the mirror, I think probably my next blog will be on paint and upkeep - ha! (and how much it grows birthday to birthday : - )). Break's over.

2005-08-31T08:12:00.000-07:00

Katrina has left a wake of destruction and heartache from her landing - pictures of debris and memories of places we know so well, the displaced people and lives lost, structures that look like they were put into a giant blender. Places are set up and more being set up here to send food, supplies and bottled water to NO. Mountain Valley is sending 16 trucks of bottled Mountain Valley water. When I retired, I was working as Exec. Sec. to the Claim Manager in an insurance company in Little Rock. I remember shortly before I left, taking a file back to the file room for my boss and looking at about a square block of files and thinking of the big chunks of people's lives in that room. To those of you who don't know what a CAT Team is, it's a group of their best adjusters gathered from all over the country (some from the retired ranks too) to send into the area hit by whatever the catastrophe is. There's no immediate repair - they have to use the construction companies just like everyone else - but there is the immediate help they can get and the assurance of what your insurance will cover, right down to out of pocket expenses. I've got some neices and nephews right now who are sympathetic but pointing out all coast areas are just as dangerous as California. (Every time there's a big rumble out there either my sister or I hint they should send out resumes closer to home : - )) They also remind me Jim and I are not far from the San Andreas fault. Supplies and water are now on their way to our neighbors in LA and MS along with our hearts and prayers. Hope all the writers and sibs of Sisters in Crime have made it safely out of the cities so devastated. We are remembering with sad hearts some of the areas shown on the news and Good Morning America. Robin is reporting from Gulfport, MS - that drive from there to NO along the coast is beautiful (but I also remember the damage Camille caused). Break's over!

2005-08-30T08:28:00.000-07:00

Hellos and hope to all who still have power and a place to work and keep in touch after Katrina, she is still winding down after skirting me and my husband in Arkanas and passing my sister and their family in Memphis. The sun is out here, Jim is out looking around for broken or fallen limbs. We parked our cars in places where it would have to be a terrible blow to send limbs down on them and hoped it wouldln't be that bad. It wasn't but I talked to my sister in Memphis a few minutes ago and it's still raining there. She was at work and they have no power at home and no phone service. Along with our prayers I know there are already very efficient Guardian Angels on the the scenes and en route to the hardest hit areas. They're called CAT Claim Adjusters and the insurance companies send them out to help the ones with the wings who are always with you. Sending my prayers, more later. Break's over!

2005-08-16T13:29:00.000-07:00

A NO CHOICE VACATION! I'm not so sure about the 'vacation' but I'm certainly sure about the NO CHOICE. I didn't mean to take a break from cyber space at all, but my little community of metal AAs (that's for Aggravating Assistants) decided to take a break. I could still get my e-mail but I couldn't print anything out (like an address or something I want to keep) so I spent about three days trying to figure out where this little glitch was hiding. I finally gave up and took it to the equivilent of the machine's ER. I had to take in the modem, scanner, and printer. Sure enough, it was a tiny thing and it's fixed now so I'm back in business. Of course this was at a time when I'd like to print out some flyers to give away at my booksigning of Sept. 3 - wouldn't you know it? Just like Murphy's Law - "anything that can happen will, and at the worst possible moment." Guess I'd better not fuss too loud or my metallic crew might impose sanctions - again! Oh well, all is forgiven, I'm just glad to have it back. Anyone with tales of terror about similar tales of terror at the mercy of a computer, feel free to sound off. Break's over!

2005-08-07T14:15:00.000-07:00

"You can't get there from here!" Yep, that's how it is right now, my little home town is one big growing pain. I've been busy as a one-eyed dog in a butcher shop since my last blog, and directions are just part of the - activities. Once Burned, my new romance-suspense came out the last of April and I've been waiting for The Devil in Maryvale, the first of a cozy mystery series to come out. The cover was okayed, last of the galleys sent, an ASAP order for some copies from the printer was in, all I had to do was wait. In fact, with all the time-consuming things required to get a book into print, I'm tempted to list 'waiter' as my occupation instead of writer. However, I called the independent book store I've been talking to and promised to bring them a couple of each of them on consignment since they're in an established (reading) neighborhood. Also, the bookstore chains demand 40% when you sign books with them so you have to be desperate for name recognition to do it.

I will probably go on and do a couple of signings with a chain store in a nearby town where I've done booksignings before, but it won't be within the next two months. There is no bookstore in our small town but there is coffee shop I've been eyeing, so I took my two new books and called on them. When I opened the door I was surprised and pleased. There was a (little smaller than lifesize) chef statue standing outside and it was like entering one of the places in the French Quarter in NO, except they have more room. It was love at first sight and hopefully the signilng will be good for the coffee shop and me as well, signing is set up for Sat. 9:00-11:00 AM Sept. 3, and will be announced in our local weekly paper next week.

The direction problem is a couple of the streets may not be there by Sept. 3! Sounds like something the Three Stooges would get into, doesn't it? This place has become a contractor's dream and a homeowner's nightmare. What there is of the sewer system is obsolete, inadequate, worn out anyway, and the local politicians are still haggling over a dependable water supply. Hundreds of people are moving here to get out of the big city and causing a big problem. The secretary of our writing group said to send directions so she can announce the signing and I'm doing that - with the reminder that the directions may change by the time we have our next meeting which, fortunately, is one week before the signing. Also fortunate, the place is directly across from the post office, so anyone or the local police can direct people. (Gee! I wish I thought there would be that many people looking for me! : - )) Wish me luck, break's over!

2005-08-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

Wall Tour Cont'd: Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, we had a great one all around Little Rock, Arkansas. The local group of writers I belong to had our first meeting in a new location. The Penpoint Group has moved and now meets at the New Barnes & Noble in North Little Rock at 2:00 PM the last Saturday in each month. Any writers or those interested in writing, published or unpublished, will be welcome and the dues (after the first three visits) are only $15.00 a year (half if you start in July-August - a bargain, yet! Also, I know at least two of them have interesting walls like me and they're a great group : - ))

I think I'd covered most of the walls, the rest is pictures of Jim and me on a couple of those cruise ships (smart of them to take your picture BEFORE you sail, get caught in the rain and eat too much).

There's a 'going to church' picture of my sister and her husband, a couple of my children, and a couple of oil paintings by Jim's aunt. I expressed an interest in one of her pictures and the heirs saw it as an opportunity to hand me the rest they had left(!). So we've got a few more scattered here and there. There's a calendar I keep forgetting to look at which is no great loss since I keep forgetting to put upcoming stuff on it anyway and I've got it planned how I can rearrange some things if I ever get around to entering any of my masterpieces in award contests (and actually GET one!). So I guess though it looks maxed out, my wall and I are flexible : - )

I've got to get back to work on my screen play. I'm now within 31 pages of the size I want it so I've got (SOB) some more cutting to do. Break's over!.

2005-07-27T08:13:00.000-07:00

Re: Wall Tour: Trying to think of something to write I decided to read you a little of my wall - no I haven't flipped, there's a lot of stuff on the walls of the room where I do my writing. I call it 'the scene of the crime' the crime being how hard it is to sell books these days. Along with a few pictures of cruise boats, a few paintings of my own (I used to paint a little, it doesn't pay anything either, sibs.) There's an honorable mention from a Sci-Fi group in Memphis, a letter from Dean Koontz (yeah, he actually wrote one!), and there's a copy of the confirmation of the write-up on me which appears in the 2005 Who's Who in America since I can't afford the $700 book even with a 50% discount. So there it is with all the other good stuff I like or gives me a laugh (two of my small paintings are of Big Bird and there's a larger one of Bugs Bunny eating a carrot and waving with his other hand. I had several big ones of Care Bears but they sold like hot cakes. There's a clue, people who won't buy something for themselves will buy things for their children. But I wasn't all that great at painting anyway and I like writing better. BTW my screen play is movng along like a herd of turtles. Always with the thought at the back of my mind I'm probably wasting my time - fun though once you get into it and get used the the 'business' presemt tense, so, we'll see. I was really surprised to get the letter from Dean Koontz. I was on his newsletter and wrote (thinking I was writing to whatever fan or flunky got out the letter) and asked some questions about an audio I was considering. He answered it himself - even went down and mailed it himself! He lives in Newport Beach and I was aware of that when we lived in Redondo Beach for three years and had to really use my will power not to go drive by his house and just see what it looks like. Anyway, his ideas on the audio were negative and I didn't do it. My husband saw me standing there in the post office holding that letter like it was the Holy Grail and after we got home and I got the groceries put up etc and went in to work - there it was! My DH had framed the letter (put the envelope with his writing and address on the envelope at the bottom) and hung it on the wall with all my other good stuff! That's one of the things he did to get the title Jim the Gem. (How he got the title The Human Broom is another story entirely.) Tune in next week to continue the wall tour. Break's over!

2005-07-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

The weekend got here and the weather is just gorgeous! Sometimes it looks like the weather man saves all the rainy days for weekends then there comes one like this and all is forgiven. Reminds me of the joke about the old man who ran a service station and complained about sunny days because there were no wrecker calls and then about the rainy days because he didn't sell as much gas. (You just can't please some people - just be glad they're selling gas instead of doing critiques - LOL) Got a pleasant surprise in my e-mail yesterday, Zumaya invited me to send a brief bio so they could profile me in their August Authors list. I've sent it and also the Work In Progress picture I put on my blog to introduce myself in case anyone wants to go to Zumaya Publications and look at the profiled authors for August. I guess the reason I got the invitation is my new romance-suspense novel, ONCE BURNED has just come out and is now listed in their new TR books. It's at Amazon.com and they also have put the e-book out and it's on Fictionwise. Also, THE DEVIL IN MARYVALE, the first of a cozy mystery series, will be up on Amazon.com soon. It will also come out from Double Dragon as an e-book in early 2006. This is beginning to sound like a sale page instead of a visit so enough about that! The Penpoint Group that I'm a member of has moved its meeting place beginning the last Saturday in July to the new Barnes & Noble in North Little Rock. That would be hazardous to my cash flow if I had one, trying to go past all those books! I was an avid reader long before I started writing and this is a great bookstore, new with lots of books and helpful help (helpful help is the best kind - help that's not helpful is one of my pet peeves - feel free to tell me about your experiences with non-helpful help since I usually tell all my hopes and hangups on here LOL). Please come again soon, comments welcome, sympathy and cheers available here. Break's over! : - )

2005-07-19T13:55:00.000-07:00

Hi again: (and I've learned how to spell break - can't believe I spelled that wrong and didn't catch it last time!) I'm moving along like a herd of turtles with my screenplay now that Albert the Wise and Helpful has told me how to fix the glitch in my script format. This job is a matter first of all, of cramming a three hundred page novel into a one hundred and fifteen (at most) page selling script. Should take me about two years and constant prayer (I'm still ending mine with 'and make me a good girl, but the Almighty and I are still working on it - and my thirty pounds of smart metal doesn't care how infuriated I get with it!) What I'm doing is just working without worring about the number of pages as long as I've got the format right then I'll go back (many times, I'm sure) to cut, rewrite and all that good stuff that's so necessary to everyone except Anne Rice and other established people who don't need editors. Picture me in the haunted forest in Oz like Dorothy whispering, frightened "I do believe in editors - I DO believe in editors - I DO BELIEVE IN EDITORS!!
Break's over! : - )

2005-07-16T10:51:00.000-07:00

I'm baaack! : - ) and happily sandwiching in my 'gotta dos,' wanna dos,' and 'hey this looks interesting stuff' in with my blogs and reading other people's blogs. This last comes under 'interesting stuff' to investigate. Got a nice surprise too, about the problem I had help to fix. The place that was so much help sent me a 'he said - she said' print-out of my plea and the magical Albert's instructions! Neat, huh? They also sent a questionaire they requested I fill out about whether they had been any help or not - talk about the understatement of the year?! Of course I did and rated them a ten on help. They also had a place with questions which told them how much of their products I have bought in the last 30-60 days. I was embarrassed to tell the truth, I hadn't bought any (I know what you're thinking - I didn't sign up to buy any or submit to any advertising either.) I've done about six pages on my screen play, read everything I've collected about screen writing and am now cringing about he amount of cutting it's going to take to squeeze a three hundred and three page novel into a one hundred and twenty (or hopefully less) screenplay. The good side is it's something I want to do, with no deadline (and I can take time out to talk to my fellow bloggers : - ))

I've run into one snag on the blogs I've been enjoying. I always like to leave a comment since I look forward to them on my blogs. But on some of them it just doesn't take for some reason. I'm still working on that but enjoying reading all of them anyway. (Blog on, friends and fellow writers). More later. Brake's over! : -)

2005-07-12T14:15:00.000-07:00

Hello and happy Tuesday, friends, readers and fellow writers (sufferers too if you're doing battle with your computer as I have been). This struggle with my thirty pounds of smart metal has left me as spent as any other battle but I've finally found the glitch and I can do my screenplay now. All I have to do is get started and do it (right! ; -)). One thing I found out is there are lots of people who are really compter smart and experienced who were as stymied by this stumbling block as I was. I'd about given up hope when I got into one of those 'chat' things with the company who made my computer (Compaq) and got to tell my troubles to someone named Albert. Must have been the shade of Albert Einstein or Sweitzer (or God or my guardian angel) because he let me blather on (you type in your problem and he types an answer and you chat about it) until the machine just cut me off. Albert has the patience of Job but the computer has no patiance at all with mere humans. All Albert typed back when the machine cut me off was "truncated at" and I started there and continued my (whiney ) facts and what I did, and what I needed. This happened twice - I typed on - what I lack in knowledge I make up for in perseverance - he! he! he! then Albert stated this was no a problem brought on by their product (I agreed - le problem as usual - c'est moi!) but he said he'd try to help me. When you finally get one of these archangel's attention you click enough 'yeses' and 'I agrees' to give them complete control of your machine so he had everything at his fingertips and knew I was not only a basket case but a basket case with a problem that needed fixing. He looked at my machine and my condition, gave me brief instructions which did not involve my buying any more software or a new computer. I was braced for anything since the other contacts I'd made were beginning to sound like my computer needed the equivilent of an MRI for a human being - scary - mind-boggling expensive, and probably wouldn't help anyway. His instructions were so simple I couldn't believe it - then he was gone - just like the Spirit of Ignorance Past or something equally as impressive. I did exactly as he said - and IT WORKS! I'll close on a happy note - break's over! : - )
Jackie

2005-07-08T11:59:00.000-07:00

The news today is mixed - good and bad. The good is I've given up on ever getting the template fixed or finding a cyber net with which to catch the elusive thing and deleted it - even emptied the Recycling Bin so I won't change my mind and waste any more time with it. I know that doesn't sound like good news but it is. I went first to the place where I got the template a few years ago and they still have it to download. I made sure I could get it before burning my 'recycling' bridges : - ). The bad news is we've lost a really good mystery writer. Evan Hunter (also a pen name) writing as Ed McBain died of larynx cancer. He was seventy-eight and had sold over a hundred million books. Not only that, he evidently had vowed as I have to keep writing as long as he could see the monitor - his last book is coming out in September. He was a good mystery writer and a good man who will be missed. I'm going to be brief today and see if I can remember or figure out how to use this template now that I've got it back - wish me luck? Break's over! : - )
Jackie

2005-07-05T13:23:00.000-07:00

Are there any screenplay writers out there reading this? I need some help from someone who knows his (or her) way around cyber space a lot better than I do. Back when the moon was made of green cheese and dragons were not even newsworthy I wrote a screen play - a trillogy in fact. It was the first thing I'd ever written and was what drove me into a writing group in search of help. By the time I'd finished it - the work, learning, researching, and enjoying the company of other writers had me completely hooked on writing and I'm (late bloomer or not) going to keep writing as long as I can see the monitor : - )). To get back to my current problem, I've decided to make a screenplay from one of my novels and though I know my template is floating around in this stubborn, password happy machine, I can't seem to get the blooming thing set up. I'd already written me out a list of F1, F2, etc. to go by but I can't get it ready to go. This list reminds me of when my husband tried to teach me how to play poker and made me out a list of what beats what. All I remember about that is a FULL HOUSE is good! he! he! he! I copyrighted that ill-fated trillogy, proud of all my research which went all the way back to the Etruscans and sent it out to a few places that looked like they could afford to do my masterpiece justice. Of course, all of them stuck it right back into the SASE and sent it back tout de suite - except one. This one time it fell into the hands of someone who liked fairy tales as well as I do and he//she sent it to the fellow on the next rung up from her/him. This tasteless fellow (or lass) flung it back down to the office dogsbody with instructions to send it back to this naive a-- and PROTECT OUR OWN. At least that's what the results imply. They sent it back in the SASE with a page long legally correct letter swearing (they would not touch over the transom tripe with a ten foot pole) and none, not one of the office help had READ a word of it (to keep me from suing as if I had the money). This time I'm going to try something which may be more acceptable if not in a less scary setting. New York City to be exact. The name of the MS I'm going to put at the mercy of publishers, critics and whoever else I can get to read it is RECYCLING HUMANITY. It's a novel whose time has come (I hope), you can check it out at my web page and probably if you try really hard - on Amazon/Booksurge.com. I guess all of you have heard about Amazon.com buying BookSurge and they're in transition. Right now, though I've taken the book off Xlibris, Amazon still has the old one listed and the new one with the new cover and the good price, you will have to put in the new ISBN No. (1594533644) to get - the difference in price is worth the typing and if you want to go to my web page there's no S&H there. Of course, I and all the other writers who are the victims of Amazon's uncorrectable mistakes (ever try to get in touch with them?) are hoping they'll accidentally get a few things corrected in the transition. They have always been very nice to me, they just don't make corrections - even when my publishers ask(?) If anyone has any suggestions about how to find my template, please let me know. Happy reading, break's over!

2005-07-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

Hello again, hope all of you are having a safe, sane, and fun holiday and saying extra prayers for all our troops overseas. My DH and I are going out to eat, enjoy the good weather since it's not TOO hot and it's not raining and just enjoy being home in general.

Where was I with the Memphis fun and games? Oh yes, the Commercial Appeal survived and went back to printing the news in Memphis after the 'War Between the States' and is still there on Union Avenue, telling it like it is for their readers. Obviously, the City on the Bluff survived too in spite of the war and the yellow fever epidemic. Most people don't know Memphis lost its charter because of the many deaths and people leaving and general chaos of that terrible epidemic. Over five thousand souls were lost (and that's just the ones known and documented so I feel sure the number is higher).

The thing that makes research so much fun besides the facts you uncover is PEOPLE TALK TO YOU. When they find out you're a writer they open up to you and I've met many interesting, lovable, helpful, and all around wonderful people as I worked on research and met other writers. The rewards in contacts and friendships is great whether you ever make any money or not. And once you're 'hooked' on writing you have to write, so enjoy all the good things about it.

BTW, the perfume shoppe where Jamai and Susanna shopped is still there in the French Quarter. It's run now by grandchildren - or is it grand neices and nephews? Anyway, if you go there and tell them a little about yourself and what fragrances you enjoy, you can get your own vial of "Eau de Betty Jo" or whatever you want to call it (for a fee, of course : - ) and no, I haven't had one done and don't work for them or the chamber of commerce. )

Come back for another thrillin' episode with alligators, river trade, and love at first sight! Did I mention you can buy Memphis in Our Hearts at Amazon/Booksurge and it's also available in e-book format? (Well, I have now : -)) You can also get it at my page without any S&H. http://www.jackiegriffey.com or just type Jackie Griffey's Books into your Yahoo browser and click on the romances, mysteries...

Breaks's over!"

2005-07-02T08:15:00.000-07:00

Happy month of July, everyone! Now that I've told you what inspired my writing of Memphis in our Hearts (so what if thirty plus years went by before I got started on it?) There is so much information available on the net it's just mind-boggling. How did we ever get along without it? FYI, fellow writers (most of you already know) all you have to do when you want information on something is 'think yellow pages.' Type in the very thing you're looking for and if that exact thing doesn't come up, you will at least be pointed in the right direction where to look further. I looked up some of the history of the city of Memphis itself, of things that were happening in the period of time I was writing about, and of course, about the particular things as I came to them. One wonderful thing I came across, the reason I said the research is as interesting as any fictiion novel, is the history of the Commercial Appeal in Memphis. Always an admirer of this great paper, I was fascinated by the things I read about it. As for what was happening in and around the time I was writing about, it's a matter of public record. I'll list just a few related things here. When my heroine, Jamai Allen, came home from school in England the war had been over long enough to breed chaos and danger in the transition from war to peace and it was in spots an uncomfortable peace. When the Yankees (the editor said I had to put a capital on this- he! he! he!) took Memphis, the Commercial Appeal that pro-south, tell it like it is (and in some cases like we feel it) newspaper, grabbed up their presses and ran to Grenada, Mississippi. It wasn't far enough. They'd been so outspoken they were on the 'dangerous' hit list if there was one at the time. The Union troops chased them all around the South (this capital was my own idea), caught up with them in Georgia, and smashed their presses. Meanwhile, with the Commercial Appeal gone a few weekly newspapers sprang up. One of the three families Memphis in our Hearts is about owned one of those newspapers and supplied news and 'social glue' to hold the community together as well as to supply the need and hunger for a newspaper. The whole time I was writing this I pictured Hal Holbrook as Sam (smart, sarcastic, warm hearted and sometimes funny along with it - I guess you're just going to have to read the book to tell if you picture Hal Holbrook as Sam too : - )) I know all of you are busy whether it's with your own writing, reading, or just living - I'll take up here tomorrow. Please come back. Break's over!

2005-06-30T13:12:00.000-07:00

Hello again! I warned you, I haven't had someone asking questions about my historical novel, MEMPHIS IN OUR HEARTS (available in print from ZUMAYA PUBLICATIONS, Amazon/BookSurge, bookstores and their web pages as well in e-book format from ZUMAYA too) so here goes-hope some lurkers are out there and hanging on every click of the keyboard) - I can dream, can't I? Waaaaaay back about 1966 or 67 my husband and our little family was living in east Memphis, our daughter was 3+ years old and our son was 9+ years old. Jimmy was a cub scout - it was summer - he and a friend had gone to a nearby wooded area on a project to collect leaves and identify trees in the area for a merit badge. (I was always a firm believer in the buddy system even though they weren't going to be far from home.) They hadn't been gone too long when Jimmy ran in the back door, headed for the bathroom and threw up! After getting him calmed down and cleaned up (or maybe during all that) I learned they'd come upon 'a lot of dead bodies!' I got a neighbor to sit with my children, got on my broom and went up there, mad enough to go bear hunting with a switch and not knowing what to expect. By the time I got to the area there had been security posted at the place I knew the boys had gone to gather their leaves. The very professional security guards would not let anone approach more than three or four feet to talk to them but over the guard's shoulder I could see some of the desturbed graves. The one closest was a heart-breaker. From the hole in the ground a leg in a long black stocking stuck straight up. I'm sure the wooden casket had long since disentigrated. The leg stuck up from (still) snowwhite and beautiful lace that looked like cotton eyelet. And I knew what I was looking at. Someone's beloved daughter who had died of yellow fever in the epidemic. It still gives me goosepimples to think about it. There was a lot of new construction in east Memphis then and some contractor who thought he'd done his homework had run into one of the burial grounds for the yellow fever victims. I read everything I came across about that as the years wore on (and the children grew up and life went on : - ) When I retired I joined a writing group (The Penpoint Group in Jacksonville, AR - I'm still a member) and the first book I had published was MEMPHIS IN OUR HEARTS. Those were exciting, heart rending, joyous, interesting times and the research was as exciting as any fiction book could ever be. Come back to our next break & I'll tell you more. Break's over!

2005-06-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

Hi! I'm sitting here with my glasses in my hand waiting for some questions or comments. If I don't have any by tomorrow about this time I'll tell you some things about how I came to write MEMPHIS IN OUR HEARTS, a romance-suspense novel published by ZUMAYA PUBLISHING in 2003 (available at Amazon.com, Zumaya, BookSurge, bookstores and their pages as well as in e-book format.) I was born in Arkansas (Hot Springs) but grew up in Memphis so most of my settings are there, rural TN or AR. If anyone reading this has read my books or the reviews posted on Amazon or elsewhere I would love to have your views and comments. If you are someone who wants to write, DO IT! Don't let a blank page frighten you. You have to write something to edit, proof it, and nurture it like a plant in a garden. But first, you have to have something to work with - so WRITE! I'm waiting to hear from someone with some comments or questions.
Break's over!
Jackie

2005-06-27T05:56:00.000-07:00

Good morning, writers, readers, browsers, friends, whoever you are! : - ) I haven't received any comments or questions yet so my next blog will be about when I started writing and some of the snags and high spots someone like me encounters. (I didn't have anything going for me except I didn't know what was impossible - don't know if I'd been brave enough to start writing if I had!!)
Back soon!
Break's over!

2005-06-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I warned you I'm new to blogging! I've just seen the announcement we may post images on our blogs. I'm going to try posting a picture of me at work. Please join the fun here at Breaktime and tell me some of your experiences with research et cetera too. The picture will be up shortly (I hope : - ))
Break's over!
Jackie

2005-06-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

BREAKTIME with Jackie Griffey
Welcome to Breaktime With Jackie! This is to share fiction, facts, and fun that can be had on the way to writing a novel and doing research. Research will usually put even the most dedicated of writers in their places because some of the research is better and more exciting than a fiction novel! I've been writing for more than twelve years and as far as I know, neither Mary Higgins Clark nor any other fiction writer is even aware of my efforts much less afraid of any competition from me. I'm writing like I read, for the pleasure of it. This is fortunate since I'm still in (probably the lowest) part of the writing force who is 'financially challenged' as my grandson calls it, and prestige alone makes a very thin sandwich :-) Today, I'm sending a special thanks to Kelsy George who helped me out getting started with my blog. My entry into CyberSpace was as scary as Alice's fall down the rabbit hole to Wonderland, but I'm here now, so you will be hearing more from me soon...(Break's over! : - ))

2005-06-24T14:54:00.000-07:00

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