WICKED WEDNESDAYS

Things noted!

My life is a series of notes. These would be the ones I've written to myself. They say such things as "Dig up irises". I need that reminder because by this time of year, the iris plants out front are hidden by numerous flowering bushes. And, I really do need to move them so that next year they'll bloom out in the open.

I also have notes such as "oil change" and "change Brita". I post these in my agenda for a date three months from when they've been done. My "To Do" list also has post-it notes attached at odd angles, add-ons and the like.

Birthdays are written on the wall calendar in CAPITAL LETTERS. Highlighter points out the days bill payments are due. Some notes get posted in duplicate in two different locations, making it more difficult to ignore. Others are punctuated by lots of exclamation marks!!!

My latest note written just an hour ago reads, "Midge". That's the name of a new character in my new book. It just came to me while I was reading the morning paper. I didn't see the name in print, although I was scanning the Obits. It just came to me and I liked it. These things do happen and frequently when plotting a new book. I have a collection of bits of paper with jottings, quotations, references, list of possible titles, etc. that I've shoved into a brand new file folder marked, #4. As I transfer these to a computer file by the same name, I trash the paper trail. The act of writing these items a second time, when transferring to computer, helps to ingrain the thoughts in my consciousness and usually leads to a longer writing session as the ideas start flowing.

With this book, having the extra time, I'm also looking at different ways of plotting. This entire process is exciting as anything is possible and after all, what doesn't work or what seems silly when re-visiting, can easily be deleted. Then it's just a matter of locating all those new notes and being thankful for post-its.

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

A KILLER READ
Berkley Prime Crime, now available
READ & BURIED, coming Dec., 2012
www.erikachase.com

MAYHEM ON MONDAYS

Energy boosts!

Just when you're sitting there facing a blank screen with a blank mind as a companion, an email arrives from a reader saying, "I loved your book". Actually, this is the email: I loved your book. As a reader of 150+ books a year i was drawn in by the title. Anyway I have already ordered book 2.


Wow -- just what I needed. The adrenaline started flowing, the brain cells started doing a little dance, and I'm pumped and ready to get to work.

I've also given myself a deadline, which is what I always need to work towards. I should have done that sooner but I'll blame my lethargy on all this heat and humidity. Funny how one email can act like a cooling breeze -- and I mean that in a good way.

Which is a reminder to me that when I finish reading a book -- and I'm putting a serious dent in my TBR pile, finally! -- I need to let that author know when it's one that's blown me away. These comments aren't ego-boosters, they're those nods of approval that inspire the writer to carry on with it. It's all well and good to claim to write for oneself but seriously, when you know a reader or two is hooked, that you've given them some reading pleasure, isn't that what it's all about?

So keep those cards and letters, okay, emails coming in to all the writers you're reading and appreciating. Now...back to my book!

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

A KILLER READ
Berkley Prime Crime, now available
READ & BURIED, coming Dec., 2012
www.erikachase.com

MYSTERY REVIEW

SPOILED ROTTEN
by Mary Jackman
Dundurn Press

Take a Toronto restauranteur writing about a Toronto restauranteur, throw in a murder or two, a missing chef, a health inspector and an intriguing cop -- all in the novel, of course -- and you have what is hopefully the start of a new Canadian mystery series.

It takes place in Toronto, always a fun setting for murder and mayhem. She shops in Kensington Market (which is such an atmospheric spot) until the body of her meat supplier is found, her head chef, Daniel Chapin, goes missing, and the restaurant, Walker's Way Bistro is shut down by an over-zealous health inspector. Her bills are mounting but her general manager and good buddy, Rick keeps her sane along with running the place. What's a girl to do but track down her wayward chef, a pursuit that takes Liz to the east coast, Nova Scotia to be exact, and some nice descriptive parts.

Back in TO, Liz continues her sleuthing (despite instructions from the police not to do so) routing up tales of adultery, disgruntled employees, property lust and an industrial sizes freezer just waiting to have someone locked into it. Guess who! Of course, there's a hint of romance brewing between Liz and the handsome Detective Winn.

At times the snappy dialogue seems a bit forced and doesn't quite work but that's no reason not to read and enjoy Spoiled Rotten. Restaurants and cooking are hot stuff on TV these days...it's clever of Jackman to transfer her knowledge of the industry to the pages of a mystery novel. Her characters are memorable. The mystery is plausible. The outlook for this series (which I hope it is), is four star!

CRIME ON MY MIND

Say it isn't so!

The Fifty Shades of ka-ching has struck again! In an early morning CBC radio interview today, a book columnist from Toronto was discussing the erotification (did I make this word up?) of the classics. Imagine! Jane Austen's beloved Pride and Prejudice now presented with eroticism leaping from its pages. I can think of nothing sadder.

Surely there are enough hot historical romances, many x-rated, on the shelves at the moment. Why resort to re-writing the classics? Money, that's why. They're in the public domain; E.L. James of Fifty Shades fame is accumulating royalties as fast as Rowling; and, everyone wants a piece of that pie. In other words, no...nothing is sacred anymore.

One fact that was pointed out, however, was with e-books, trends are exploited much faster. In traditional publishing, anyone writing to take advantage of a trend might find that trend has changed by the time the novel is published.

Not these days. With e-books, riding the trend is just a short formatting away. Is this good or bad? Will we hit the point of over-saturation with each trend? Will we run out of trends at this rate?

Do we care?

I do. If you can't be creative enough to write your own novel then better stick to your day job. Just leave the classics alone!

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

A KILLER READ
Berkley Prime Crime, now available
READ & BURIED, coming Dec., 2012
www.erikachase.com

WICKED WEDNESDAYS

August 11, 2012 is a very special day for the Ladies’ Killing Circle. This is the day when the six of us will be presented with the Grant Allen Award at the annual Scene of the Crime Mystery Festival on Wolfe Island. It’s an idyllic setting, the largest island of the legendary thousand islands in the St. Lawrence River, which forms much of the eastern half of the Canada/ US border. Like all islands, it has its own culture - rebellious, proud and individualistic. Along with the fishermen, farmers and homesteaders, pirates and smugglers shaped its history, and thousands of barrels of smuggled sugar, guns and whiskey lie on the river bottom just off its shores.

But before there were smugglers and bootleggers, there was Grant Allen, who was born and bred on the island over a century and a half ago. He has been called Canada’s first crime writer and was certainly one of the most prolific authors of the Victorian era. He published an astonishing array of books of science and philosophy, as well as 40 novels, but it is his crime fiction, and his friendship with Conan Doyle, that makes him central to today’s festival. Every year since the festival’s inception, the Grant Allen Award has been given to a writer who has made a pioneering contribution to Canadian crime writing.

Over the years the festival has honoured such pioneers as Eric Wright, Howard Engel, Gail Bowen and Peter Robinson, and this year the festival has chosen the unique collective of women who formed the Ladies’ Killing Circle. LKC perceived a glaring need – publishing opportunities for Canadian female short story writers – and set about filling it. Under our auspices, seven anthologies were edited and published, giving voice to numerous Canadian women writers who went on to their own fame and glory. Among them, the six ladies themselves. Four of us went on to publish multiple novels (twenty-plus and counting), while one went on to children’s and young adult novels and the other continued her award-winning career in short story writing and editing.

Keep an eye on this space, and on the Ladies’ Killing Circle Fan Page, for more details on the success and accomplishments of all those women who got their start, literally, in one of the LKC anthologies. Many names will be familiar. And if you want to learn more about this delightful, old-fashioned mystery festival, with its free ferry rides and its traditional church supper, check out www.sceneofthecrime.ca. Register early to ensure a spot!




Barbara Fradkin is a child psychologist with a fascination for how we turn bad. In addition to her darkly haunting short stories in the Ladies Killing Circle anthologies, she writes the gritty, Ottawa-based Inspector Green novels which havewon back to back Arthur Ellis Awards for Best Novel from Crime Writers of Canada. The eighth in the series, Beautiful Lie the Dead, explores love in all its complications. And, her Rapid Read from Orca, The Fall Guy, was launched last year.

MAYHEM ON MONDAYS

Reading and writing....

For the past week-and-a-half I've been volunteering at one of our many summer music festivals, this one for chamber music entitled Music & Beyond. I've loved the experience of meeting new people, supporting this organization, and getting to hear some amazing music.

It hasn't been without it's downside though. Like the oppressive heat and humidity we're experiencing in Ottawa. Although two of the venues had AC, there was still the time spent walking through the long lines of patrons waiting outside on the sidewalk for the doors to open, after the musicians had finished rehearsing. We'd sell tickets, programme books and raffle tickets, and also offer water, which was always gratefully appreciated.

Another part of the 'adventure' was taking the bus. Not knowing if I'd easily find downtown parking and also dreading the rush-hour traffic, even with AC in the car (I hate using it though, preferring to keep my windows open and a breeze fanning through the car), I decided to opt for OC Transpo. Which meant the second day of transit, after getting a close look at the route and seeing stores and buildings I'd never noticed when driving, I took to reading for the often half-hour drive.

It's a great way to visit some mass market authors I'd never tried before. And, since my publisher, Berkley Prime Crime is American, I chose to spend my time reading other cosy writers from their line. I know, this is a blog about Canadian writing, so I'll focus on how these books have influenced my writing.

I've written the three books in my series with the idea of entertaining my readers...and myself. I've used traditional themes for murder -- revenge and greed being the main ones -- but haven't given over many inches to exploring those themes in depth. There are several examples of crime novels written by Canadians where moral issues are a driving force -- locally, Barbara Fradkin and R.J. Harlick's series come to mind. But I'd never thought to delve deeper with my cosies.

Since I'm spending the summer starting book #4, in case the series is continued, and also fleshing out a brand new series, this has given me something else to ponder. I always enjoy the beginning months of a new book. Anything's possible and new ideas can be tried then used or discarded. And, I'm delighted to have something else to add to that mix. I think it's a time to grow as a writer.

What about you? What has influenced your writing most recently?

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

A KILLER READ
Berkley Prime Crime, now available
READ & BURIED, coming Dec., 2012
www.erikachase.com

CRIME ON MY MIND

Technology...ugh!

Remind me again why we like technology so much? Why all the new "time-saving" electronics are so important? Why I even pause to ask these questions?

Maybe my computer needs cleaning or an overhauling. Maybe I need more RAM or whatever it is. Maybe I need more patience. It's just that I get so fed up with having to keep re-trying to enter a program; when Facebook tells me my password is not correct; when Twitter is overloaded so 'try again later'.

Who said we need all these gizmos, anyway? I'll admit, when everything works properly, it's pretty nice. It's good to have the world at your fingertips through Google. It's pretty nifty being able to communicate with friends across the country with just a few keystrokes. It's a help being able to edit a manuscript with 'cut' and 'paste' features.

But sometimes I long for the good old days of picking up the telephone, getting a letter or a card in the mailbox, using the old Remington to type up the manuscript along with scissors and a glue stick to 'cut' and 'paste'. It wasn't fast. It wasn't tidy. But it sure didn't raise my internal temperature the way my electronics often do.

Which is not a so great in the midst of our incredible heat wave. It's a good thing I've taken the day off from writing and will spend most of it in an air conditioned church, volunteering at a marvelous Music and Beyond concert. No electronics allowed there!

Hope you're keeping cool...inside and out! Speaking of outside, there's a cardinal calling me.

Linda Wiken/Erika Chase

A KILLER READ
Berkley Prime Crime, now available
READ & BURIED, coming Dec., 2012
www.erikachase.com