Janus, the Two-faced God

Happy New Year, everyone!

 I'm delighted to be starting off the New Year blogging here at NYUS. Here's hoping you didn't overdo the celebration last night, but if you did overindulge, take heart: hangovers don't last forever, they only seem as if they do. Drink coffee and eat some spicy food (I recommend huevos rancheros) and you'll be back in the saddle in no time.

However, if you were foolish enough to make a New Year's resolution or two, I can't help you. Resolutions made on New Year's Eve rarely make it to Three Kings Day so either avoid them altogether, or make sure resolution is user friendly. A few years earlier, I resolved to drink my way through every local brewery in Gainesville, tasting every IPA, imperial stout or lager I could get my hands on. As it happens, our little town currently had three excellent craft breweries so I haven't yet hit my goal, but I intend to keep trying.

Apart from questionable resolutions or excessive partying, the New Year is a time to look where we've been and where we're going. Which is probably why the ancient Romans dedicated January to the two-headed god Janus, who simultaneously looks to the future and the past. So I'd like to kick off 2018 with a story from my own past.

Well, not a story, more like a memory.

It was Christmas Eve in Baltimore and I must have been five or six. Along with my other siblings, I was tucked into bed, no doubt dreaming of the loot Santa would bring. Deep in sleep, my mother's hands lifted me from the bed, quietly so as not to waken my little sister. Heavy with sleep, I clutched my mother like a monkey as as she carried me down the stairs where our empty stocking hung. At the front door, my mother set me down and threw open the door.

"Look," she whispered.

A burst of cold air and a swirl of white--snow!

It must have been snowing for hours as a blanket of glossy white had transformed our neighborhood of row houses into something strange and wondrous. Trees, cars, and houses covered in marshmallow fluff. And everything  so quiet, as if I were inside one of those snow globes--my very own silent night. And then my mother hefted me up like a sack of potatoes and returned me to my bed, where visions of snowflakes, not sugar plums, now danced in my head.

I don't recall any of the presents I received for Christmas that year, but I've treasured that memory for decades, and it was only much later that I fully appreciated my mother's gift. None of the other neighborhood mothers would have woken a sleeping child on Christmas Eve, just so she could see a snowfall. And my mother might have chosen one of my other siblings instead of me. But she didn't--she chose me.

 Oddly, I've never spoken of that night to anyone, not even my mother. Some things don't need words. And when Mom's heart stopped on a cold day in January, I thought of that faroff Christmas Eve and her gift to me.

Is there a moral to any of this? Well, I'll leave that to you. Right now, I have some black eyed peas to cook. Here in the South, we consider them good luck for the coming year.

The world could use a little luck.

 At this time of the rolling year, it's customary to extend wishes for a better year. The faithful offer prayers for better times and the secular their hopes. In the spirit of the season, I offer both, with the gentle reminder that thoughts, prayers and hopes don't amount to a hill of beans without action.

Now that's a resolution I could get behind--a resolution to work together to make the world a more just and kinder place.

Happy New Year!

A Year Without Television: A New Year's Resolution Fulfilled!

I fulfilled a New Year's resolution in 2014 that I am considering for 2018. In 2014, I vowed to spend twelve months without television. Betting and joking immediately ensued among family and friends on how long I'd last. I was addicted to crime sitcoms ["Castle," "Major Crimes," "CSI," "Elementary," "NCIS," "Law & Order SVU"] and fantasy ["Once Upon a Time," "Warehouse 13," "The Librarians"] and political thrillers ["Person of Interest," "House of Cards," "Covert Affairs"], well, you get the idea.

These twelve shows were not the only shows I watched. Add news. With a degree in journalism, being a news junkie is a given. Add movies. Add the occasional documentary and talent competition. I've watched absolute garbage after channel surfing because nothing else was on. Addiction and inertia held me captive.

"My wakeup call was reading a statistic from the Parents Television Council that children in America watch between four and eight hours of television a day." 

They spend more time staring at a blinking box than in school! No wonder America has an epidemic of overweight, undereducated children and teens. And what are they learning? Bad behavior from reality television shows and talk shows? Egad. Four to eight hours a day is enough time to master a second language or learn new hobbies and skills. Righteous indignation rose in me about this monumental waste of our most precious asset--time. I asked my daughter how much time my darling grandchildren spent in front of the television per day.

And then she asked me how much time I spent.

blink. blink. blink.

So 2015 was a test. A cure for my addiction. I wish I could tell you it was easy, that my iron willpower helped me stroll by the big-screen in the living room without temptation. I wish I could say with a straight face that hearing others talk about the shocking season finale of any of my favorite shows didn't knock the wind out of me. When book club pals asked if I was going to watch the new shows "Sherlock," "Bosch," or "Outlander" my resolve quavered dangerously on the edge of quitting this mad personal quest.

Spending a year without television allowed me to read 35 more books in 2015 than in the previous year. I traveled to: Charleston (SC), Jacksonville with my girl pals, San Juan, St. Kitts, St. Barts, Las Vegas, the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Studios, New York City, Naples (FL), and multiple trips to North Carolina.







In April, I worked as a stringer/reporter for General Aviation News at the SUN 'N FUN Fly-In. You can read my articles by clicking on GA News. It was a joy to combine my journalism training with my aviation hobby and get paid for it! What rewarding joy!



Handsome and I also learned gun safety and enjoyed target practice under the watchful eye of a friend from church who had served in the Marines. Getting off the sofa has been rewarding after all.
Perhaps many of you will also opt out of television viewing for a year.

Imagine all those mean political ads you'll miss...and the books you will have time to read. Ahem. My third book will be coming out in late spring. So expect to hear more about the book in the coming months. And, yes, it will be available in print for those readers who refuse to read on a tablet, like my mother and mother-in-law.



So let the bets be covered. I survived a year without television! Woot Woot. Okay, so I didn't learn another language or discover a cure for cancer, but I wrote more, played more, and spent more hours each day toward my lifelong goal of publishing novels.

Remember time is your most precious asset. Tell me, what would you do with four extra hours a day?

Happy New Year!

A special wish from our "Not Your Usual Suspects" family to yours... 

May your body be healthy, 

your mind be challenged, 

your spirit be lifted, 

and your friends be plentiful 

in 2016!

Happy New Year!!

-- The NYUS Gang

Of hives and hyperventilation

It’s that time of the year. Again.

You know. The time of year when we look back and take stock of our successes. And failures.

The time of year when we look forward, hitch up our pants, and set goals.

I hate it.

It’s that whole goal thing. Anyone who read my last post (Lying Fallow) knows that I don’t react well to too much pressure. And goal setting is definitely too much pressure for me. I don’t even do resolutions, having learned that any resolution I make in January won’t last to February.

I realize that many, many people thrive on setting goals and making resolutions. On New Year’s Day, I spoke with my friend Karen Abrahamson (a wonderful writer of urban fantasies with unique settings and premises). She happily rattled off all her writing goals for 2014, which included two new novels, a new novella series, multiple short stories… and then publishing all of them.

Hives broke out on my face.

You couldn’t pay me enough to deliberately set my anxiety bar higher than it already is, but for her, it works. She wrote half a MILLION new words last year (excuse me—I need to find a paper bag in which to breathe for a minute). She is a goal-oriented writer, always striving to write better and bigger stories.

She exhausts me.

But I guess I can’t judge her by my standards, just as she can’t judge me by hers (thank goodness). I am finally figuring out what approach works best for me, so that I don’t overcommit and destroy my fragile little ego when I disappoint myself. And I need to trust other writers to know best what works for them.

What about you? Does a lack of goals make you feel untethered? Or does setting goals make you want to take that tether and hang yourself with it?

P.S. Here’s my latest cover, for my upcoming novel release (February): Obeah. See? I do have goals. Bite-sized, manageable ones.

 

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Milestones

I’m sure I’m not alone, but for me, this time of year always inspires reflection and self-evaluation. I find myself looking back at what I’ve accomplished, determining what I have yet to do, and then looking ahead toward where I want to be. This applies to all types of goals—physical, career/skills, social, and spiritual. I look at several things: Do I still want to meet those same goals? What has changed over the past several months that should have me re-prioritizing? What do I want to focus on in the new year if I have limited energy and resources? What have I learned in the past year that I can apply to the next one?

It is also a time for looking at how far I have yet to go to meet my major (or long-term) goals. Yes, they say life is about the journey, not the destination, but I'm not one to leave everything to fate. I'm a planner. An organizer. I can't help myself, and checking things off my goal and to-do lists makes me all giddy inside. But I often have to remind myself that it's not all about the big milestones (publishing a book, making a bestseller list, etc.). Milestones can be more subtle than that. (And sometimes we don’t know we’ve been on a journey until we’re well underway.) So don't forget the smaller mile markers in between the bigger, flashier ones. And make sure you celebrate each appropriately.

Speaking of milestones, hubby and I will celebrate our anniversary on New Year’s Eve. It’ll be number nineteen, and we’re already looking ahead to how we want to celebrate the big two-oh. We’re talking about traveling, maybe to a warm beach somewhere…and possibly renewing our vows. The excitement of thinking of these possibilities and marking time in special ways is what had me thinking about milestones today, and about how these celebrations are necessary. (And sometimes, just making it through the day with the whole family intact is worth noting.) Big or small, achievements must be celebrated.

In this new year, I hope you find many reasons to celebrate, and enjoy the journey along the way...

Where would you go or what would you do to celebrate a big anniversary? How do you mark the milestones in your life? Where do you see your journey taking you in 2014?

LOOKING BACK AT 2013 - by Kathy Ivan

As we come to the end of 2013, I want to take a moment to look back at this year and what we've accomplished.

As a group, Not Your Usual Suspects has grown, not only in size, adding a few new members, but also in our outreach. We have the blog site (of course we do, here you are visiting with us).
Each of us continued writing throughout 2013, sending work out to agents and editors. Some entered contests. Many of our members had multiple books come out, with more available next year.

As authors, we believe in what we do. We love writing, telling stories. We love sharing those stories with you, the readers, hoping and praying with each word we write you will become engrossed within our storytelling and when you finish the book, you'll smile and say, "Yes, I loved it. Let me see what else this author has out there." That is the biggest compliment you can pay an author, letting him or her know you enjoyed the book they've poured hours and hours toiling over with blood, sweat and tears. (As a side note, I'd like to suggest that if you like a book, post a review. It can be on Amazon, Goodreads, B & N, wherever you're comfortable posting one. Word of mouth is the best way to let others know about new and upcoming authors they may not have previously read. Yes, people do read reviews and buy based on them. It's also a small way of saying thanks to an author who has brought a few hours of enjoyment into your life. Okay I'll get off my soapbox now. LOL)

We dream big. Hopefully we'll have new and exciting things happening in 2014 and you can come on the ride with the authors at Not Your Usual Suspects as we continue growing, writing, and generally having a great time spreading the word that reading and writing mysteries and romantic suspense is fun.

My wish for 2014 is that you have a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year and may all your dreams come true. I'll be aiming high, shooting for the stars, and continuing to write, because I love it and I know if I dream it and believe it, everything I wish for will come true.

And since I'm the one writing this post, I'm going to add a personal note here: From now through December 31, 2013, books 1 and 2 in the Destiny's Desire Series are on sale (at Amazon.com) for $0.99 each. So if you haven't read the first two books in this series, here's your chance to get both books at a great price.

Second Chances (Book #1)

Losing Cassie (Book #2)

CHRISTMAS IN JANUARY

I love Christmas and all its fevered trappings.  So this isn’t ‘bah humbug’ piece.  But for John and me, Christmas with midnight service, carols, gifts and eggnog will be nostalgic this year.  Friends have moved, children have grown up and the tree has shrunk to a table topper.  Even fruitcake has gone the way of the dinosaur.

On the plus side, nobody around here has to get up at four a.m. on Christmas morning to see if Santa ate the cookies.  Still, what I’m really looking forward to this holiday season is the New Year.  That’ll be a special celebration time for me and for Deva Dunne, amateur sleuth extraordinaire.  Rooms To Die For, the fourth book in my Murders by Design Mystery Series is launching on January 27! 

Here’s a slice—not from the last fruitcake on earth—from the romp: A dealer searching for drugs forces Deva Dunne and Beatriz, her elderly friend, to strip at gun point. 

He eyeballed the pile of handbag contents on the desktop then waved the gun in my direction. “Nothing there, huh? All right. Now strip. You first.”

“Absolutely not,” I said. “That’s insulting. Do I look lumpy enough to have bags of cocaine strapped to my body?”

“That’s what I’ll find out. Maybe you use them for implants.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“Come on. Hurry up. Let’s see what you got.”

With the gun inches from my face, I knew he meant business. So I stood and undid the top button of my shirt.

“Faster. Speed it up.”

“I do better with music.” Why let him know how scared I was?

“Forget the comedy act. Get on with it.”

For some stupid reason, I was glad I’d worn my lilac bra and matching panties today. When I was down to them and nothing else, he whistled, then, grabbing my arm, whirled me around. “Okay. Get dressed.” He turned to Beatriz. “You next, grandma.”

“Shoot me. I will not disrobe for you.”

“Yeah, you will.”

He strode over to her and . . .

Rooms to Die For.  An e-book at Amazon and Carina Press. Can be pre-ordered on Amazon! For a first chapter excerpt, take a peek at my website: www.jeanharrington.com.

Tags:  cozy mystery, interior design, Naples, Florida  

WELCOME TO 2013 WITH NYUS!

HAPPY NEW YEAR
from the authors of Not Your Usual Suspects.

Thanks to you all for following the blog, our books and our adventures!

In 2012 we've enjoyed bringing you best-selling books with wonderful characters and intriguing plots full of suspense, drama and romance. We've shared successes and setbacks, how we write, why we write - and why sometimes we struggle to write at all! We've discussed fiction techniques, smiled and sighed over family tales, and shared holiday highlights.

Our team has grown, so have our publications, we've mastered more social media (or tried to! *g*), joined more online and homegrown critique groups, and dipped our toes into self-publishing. We've been staunch supporters of new initiatives through Carina Press and other publishers, and online ventures such as the Amazon Author Page and Evan Jacobs' Authorgraph, where you can request a virtual autograph from your favourite ebook authors.

We've also shared the great I-SPY series - informative and fun posts on your favourite fiction. Over the last year, there's been a series of posts on writing the gay mystery with Josh Lanyon, and single posts on useful topics such as Research, Free Association, Online Marketing, A Writer's Library, takings books to Audible, and being a Successful Hooker (!). We'll be continuing these posts through 2013 - make sure you bookmark the blog so you don't miss them!
 

And now, to start the year off with a groan, albeit rueful...

What were YOUR favourite Christmas cracker jokes in 2012?

Where does Father Christmas go to recover after Christmas?
An elf farm.

What did Cinderella say when her photos didn’t arrive on time?
One day my prints will come.

What do you call two happy mushrooms?
Fun guys.

What happened to the man who stole an advent calendar?
He got 25 days.

What does Father Christmas do when his elves misbehave?
He gives them the sack.

What do you give a dog for Christmas?
A mobile bone.

What’s brown and creeps around the house?
Mince spies.

What do witches use to wrap their presents?
Spello-tape.

What do you call a train loaded with toffee?
A chew chew train.

Why couldn’t the skeleton go to the Christmas party?
He had no body to go with.

What do you call 2 rows of cabbages?
A dual cabbageway.

Christmas and New Year entries collected and posted by Clare - any pictures that haven't been provided by the authors have been chosen by me, and any queries about them can be directed here.