Radine Trees Nehring's Blog, page 2

Recently, during massive computer problems, a kind editor invited me to send my submission to her in the mail–that’s right, carried by the U. S. Postal Service. I was surprised, and tremendously grateful for this, and it got me to thinking back to the time when my writing career began.

“In the beginning” (See book of Genesis, KJV, Bible) everything I wrote and sold was created on a typewriter. No questions about the format for submitting. Acceptance or refusal came in a paper envelope delivered by a postal worker. Re-types to get a “perfect” document for submission were common. I didn’t think about it, I just did it.

Electronic typing came next, then, finally, computers. Wonder of wonders, a simple key click corrected mistakes.

But what happens when technology breaks down as, I have learned recently, it certainly can do. What do I do while my tech searches for the best new computing system for me?

I am writing this during a break in my computer’s wonkiness and can only hope it posts. But at this time I am very grateful for the USPS. One reason is that all my books can be purchased from my web site, http://www.RadinesBooks.com. Purchasers pay by PayPal, I mail their selections postage free. That takes me to my post office counter fairly frequently, and clerks there know me by sight. One of them always insists on giving me a lollypop–cherry flavor.

What computer ever gave you a lollypop?

I wonder, do most writers develop a special sensitivity to word use? The meaning, the tone, the cadence, the rhythm, and even the hidden message? I hadn’t thought about this in general, though I certainly appreciate all of these attributes in poetry and well developed writing. Maybe it’s a silly waste of time but I often edit emails until the rhythm and meaning feel better to me than my original quick typing.

Over the last few days I have received forwarded emails from a friend and, though I had no real knowledge of what was true or false in the first one, I felt a certain unease when reading it and responded neutrally and in few words to the person who sent it. I did react immediately to the next forwarded email. It made me uncomfortable before I had read more than a paragraph, even though I had no knowledge of the subject being addressed. Something about the tone and rhythm disturbed me.

Then, the next day I learned during a radio program about “Fake Mail” that the first piece, attacking a well-known person (nothing to do with politics) , was entirely false and meant to injure the individual slandered there.

I thought again about the second message which was much stronger, but on a subject I know very little about. Why did both messages make me uncomfortable?

Looking at them again I decided it was word use only. I wonder, when we have intense feelings about something, especially when those feelings are negative, do we write or talk in a different manner than we might otherwise? I know from experiences way back when I marched in groups protesting the war in Vietnam and also marched in support of the Equal Rights Amendment, that organizers always wanted us to be peaceful, no ugly shouted words. “Think about what you want to say before you open your mouth” one organizer said.

If the authors of those emails that made me immediately suspicious had listened to messages like that, would I still have been on immediate alert? Today, since the Internet as the publishing platform for opinions of every shade has changed the way we express those opinions, do those of us who are full-time authors pay more attention to the feeling coming from a collection of words than most people? We certainly think about the meaning and effect of each word we use in our writing. That’s one reason I have said I believe writing poetry is good training for any writer, whether or not their writing career is about writing fact or fiction instead of poetry.

Authors out there–are we more sensitive to the result , the meaning and even the truth of words we read or hear simply because we must think deeply about word use in our own creative writing?

I would guess that many writers, who work at home anyway, are not traumatized by self-isolating as, it seems, some people in other careers are. Since the passing of my husband (best friend and business manager) a year ago, I have lived alone. Learning how to take care of all the things John did related to my writing career, not to mention the many household chores–from bill paying to light bulb changing–has been difficult, and I have had to quit some of my favorite career experiences. I do miss the easy ability of traveling to distant book selling/signing events and writers’ conferences, but otherwise I am adapting. John and I worked separately most days at home, so, even when he was here, we were often quietly separate, but certainly not lonely.

AND

I recently finished the anthology of short stories I had long dreamed about writing (“Solving Peculiar Crimes”) and that is now off to my editor. Wow, now I actually have time to read books written by favorite authors, including some I know well and have enjoyed spending time with at writers” events in the past. That is a huge plus.

I do need to catch up with promotion methods that have changed quite a bit since my last novel came out in 2016. Whoa, has it been that long? On- line promotion on Social Media and elsewhere has leaped ahead during those years.

I still look forward to the time when life opens up again, and I can go back to my regular Friday-Saturday book selling and signing events in an area chain of grocery stores. I enjoy talking with people, face-to-face, which is, I know. a contrast to the fact that I don’t mind long days at home alone.

So, how are things going for you? If you are home alone, are you adjusting to that, both income and experience-wise?

A number of years ago one of my favorite mystery authors, Carolyn Hart, was quoted as saying something about the relation of traditional mystery novels to redemption. I can no longer quote her exactly, but the link between mystery writing and redemption sure gave me a lot to think about.

I was just beginning my career as a traditional mystery author and had sold my first two novels to a publisher. Without thinking about it at all until Carolyn’s comment awakened me, my own interests, religious background, and motivations had created two mystery stories that did indeed lead to redemption in the lives of one or more characters. Not only that, I began to recognize a redemption theme or background in the work of other authors whose books I enjoyed most. It had been so subtle in both my own work and my enjoyment of other books that, until someone else brought it to my attention, I didn’t think about it at all.

And redemption solutions found or earned by book characters became a dominant idea in all my written work though I never struggled to make that happen or even, 90% of the time, attempted to make it happen in the plots.

More about this later on this blog, but, though it initially surprised me, not only have individuals in my stories been changed for the better by the end of a book, thoughts while creating these results have helped me personally.

More than once, remembering what my main female protagonist, Carrie McCrite, thinks while untangling human-caused danger and disaster has helped me find peace in less critical problems I have faced.

So, what do you think about redemption writing? Especially initially, I had no intention of writing for a Christian market. I do not preach. But I realize now that what comes out in my writing must be God-centered, though subtly enough that folks who are not church goers do not think of my books as “religious, ” nor, do a certain degree, do I. Comforting, yes, especially now in these disturbing times.

Comforting, most of all, to their author.

I am a writer, and I can prove it. Just look at http://www.RadinesBooks.com. Nine books published by three independent publishers.

Then, silence! Why? No new book in work, no posts on my blog, not much travel to distant writers’ conferences and conventions, (partly because, during this period, many of our favorites closed).

During this long silence, my husband and I moved from our Ozarks country home (“DEAR EARTH: A Love Letter from Spring Hollow”) to a condo in Fayetteville, Arkansas. We settled in, and I began intensive work at weekend book signings at an area grocery chain that welcomed me as a registered vendor in its various stores. I loved this work, and enjoyed meeting customers who stopped to chat, ask about my books, and, often, chose to buy one or more. My husband, who was also my business manager, enjoyed the store visits and usually sat with me at my signing table. He also carried and helped arrange supplies, including table, chairs, and book stock at my events.

Then, suddenly, my husband died, and a huge learning experience swamped my life so fully that I barely had time to grieve. I lost interest in writing and (never really true) I also thought I had no time. He had handled all my business necessities since his own retirement. Manage bookkeeping, yes; book stock orders, yes; shipping to those who ordered books from my web site, yes; travel arrangements, yes; tax prep and filing, yes: negotiations and business arrangements with bookstores,: yes.

And, of course, he took care of all household issues as well, helped me with troublesome tech questions in my office, and did upkeep in and around our city condominium. Blogging dropped to the bottom of my “to-do” list. For a time, I didn’t want to write at all.

I have been able to continue some grocery signing events, and, last year, began writing what had been a long-time dream for me, a short story anthology featuring the main characters in my eight mystery novels. I finished the final story in “Solving Peculiar Crimes” yesterday, and sent it off to my editor at SK Publications. Though I have always enjoyed writing, creating thirteen “Peculiar Crime” stories for Carrie McCrite and Henry King, Shirley and Roger, and more, was the most delicious fun. It re-awakened my love for making up stories.

So, here I am. More to come.

Best wishes to all of you in this sheltering, mask-wearing, and keeping our physical distance time. I’ll be back soon.

Radine

eople initiated friendly discussions about their families, their lives, and about almost anything else that wasn’t overly controversial and not–how should I say it?–off color. (I mention off-color because a majority of those wanting to chat were male. Though my husb

bookbrowsing

Karen and grandchild

I’ve been designing book covers, both ebook and print, for clients for a while now.  My goal has always been to try to get the client to tell me what they want and then give them something as close to exactly that as possible.  I’m limited in this endeavor by a distinct lack of artistic talent.  I can’t draw anything that looks remotely like what I’m attempting.

What I do have is good design sense, thanks in some part of an art director I worked with at a magazine years ago.  Before I started doing web sites I was an editor at a couple of trade publications. Back in the late 1990s, when the web began to explode, the publisher of the series of magazines I worked for at the time asked me to create websites for each.  I knew nothing about the web but I did…

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Of course those of us who write for publication want the prize–to know that others will read our words and–possibly–will find meaning in them. We may never be famous, in fact it’s unlikely most of us will be, at least outside our own area. It’s also highly unlikely we’ll make much money. But occasionally a reader will speak up on line or in person with words of appreciation and praise, and that makes all the difference. We have reached out and connected with one, two, a dozen, a hundred, maybe even a thousand readers or more.

What fun. Here’s an email from someone who lives in New Jersey, and another from South Carolina. Look! Kentucky, Texas, Arizona, Oregon. Oh, my gosh, here’s an email from Australia. Really? I have a reader there? How did that . . . ?  Oh, well, never mind . . . Australia?

When I first read about the Readers’ Map of Arkansas in a newsletter from Nightbird Books in Fayetteville, Arkansas, I wasn’t quite sure I understood what it was. Then I learned the map was for sale at Nightbird, and saw a tiny picture of it.  Names completely covered an outline map of the state–what a terrific idea. I have long felt Arkansas produces more than its share of rightly famous authors. And, of course, no matter how favorably mystery readers familiar with my series may view my novels (even someone from Australia) Radine wouldn’t be on the map with Maya Angelou, John Grisham, Charlaine Harris, Dee Brown, Helen Gurley Brown, Eldridge Cleaver . . . more, and more, and of course the Porter and Pulitzer Prize winners. I thought of so many names I would recognize and praise. Then I forgot about the map and went on with current writing projects in my office.

Until I got another newsletter about the map from Nightbird, and my husband was curious enough to search until he found a list of authors. “You’re here,” he said.

I left my office and walked down the hall to his. Seeing is believing. (I’m sure you already knew what was coming.)

I am still stunned, but of course I bought a map. It’s stuck on the back of the closet door in my office.

I was proud enough to highlight my name.

I

For more than twenty years, Radine Trees Nehring’s magazine features, essays, newspaper articles, and radio broadcasts have shared colorful stories about the people, places, events, and natur…

Source: Make Gratitude Part of Your Writing Career

Guides to mystery genres are often published–listing many categories, from puzzle-solving and satisfactory endings to horror/violence/sadism that leave you shaking and depressed.

Goodness knows there is enough in the last description in real life today. Maybe someone can explain to me why readers punish themselves by choosing fiction echoing the worst humans can inflict on each other. Is it so those readers can experience this vicariously, and hence avoid practicing it in real life? Or do these novels (plus, it is said, violent video games, movies, and TV programs) present guidelines and impetus to action for some unstable/miserable minds, who then act out their misery using weapons too easily available, as psychologists and others have suggested?

Well, that’s a deep question, but, for my own reading and writing, I choose stories in a category popularly named Cozy. These books intrigue and entertain me. They present characters I enjoy getting to know. They often give a window on human life that, subtly, increases my understanding of others, though a learning experience is not the first reason I choose them. Most of all I want to be entertained–with perhaps a few shivers, but without danger to my general equanimity.

Dictionaries define “cozy” as “snugly, warm, comfortable.”  OOOO, snugly. Love that, especially on a cold winter day in my office.

On Writing World.com, Stephen D. Rogers defines the “Cozy” as being “typified by Agatha Christie, containing bloodless crime, and a victim who won’t be missed. The solution can be determined by using emotional (Miss Marple) or logical (Poirot) reasoning.” Well, maybe, though today I think cozy goes beyond that, or at least it does in my own writing. For example, my characters can be subjected to dangerous and vile criminal activity by “bad guys,” and the criminal action can be in full view of readers. It certainly is in my latest novel, A Portrait to Die For, though I admit my sense of humor peeked through in a couple of the tense scenes. In any case, strength, as well as both logic and emotion lead to a solution in all my novels and, in many cases, redemption or a character change in some form.

An inquirer recently asked me if I wrote “Cozy Noir.” That stumped me for a while, especially since Rogers defines “Noir” as ” . . .  a mood: gritty, bleak, and unforgiving. The usual brutality is about as far from Cozy as you can get.” So, looking at it that way, I do not write anything near “Noir,” and for that matter would generally stop reading a novel that fit such a description.

I believe all of us–yes, every one of us–need more cozy in our lives. Not just in books, but in real hugs, understanding, thoughtfulness, support, stability and love. Seems to me these things, more than anything else, could begin to address the issue of violence in our real world.

I was recently shown something Barbara Vining, a writer I admire, wrote ” . . .  human affections need a tender touch–to awaken desires and aspirations that stabilize the emotions (and) satisfy the deepest longings . . . ”  To that I say, “amen.”

Radine at http://www.RadinesBooks.com