I just got back from China where we learned that both the police force and the fire department were part of the People's Army, which is a volunteer professional organization. While I was on the trip I had a chance to read Alan Cook's horror, crime book set in the fifties titled "Honeymoon for Three", a good read with the tension cranking up notch by notch. Also read my first Carl Hiaasen book called "Basket Case"--he has such a good sense of humor and carried it consistently through the book,… Continue

I've been at this writing business for 7 years now, starting cold as a new career without any background and taking the classes and learning by experience. Two things I'm good at, paying my taxes and promoting my work in the long term effort that some publisher will believe I'm a good candidate for publication. I think many new writers and even some more experience will find this articles helpful.…

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Well, yeah, it makes you look kind of foolish. My husband and I were walking around the neighborhood talking about a plot problem, a kidnapping and well, someone eavesdropped. Are we all hungry for excitement? The neighbor said, who did it happen to? So I blush, explain, no one real got kidnapped it was only make believe... Anyway, the unexpected. I was browsing through "Western Medicinal Plants and Herbs" and found all sorts of herbs that "caused toxicity and death". Hmm. Bound to be one or… Continue

When I was learning to write, someone made a comment about tension in a story. Well, I recognized tension when I saw it, but wasn't really sure how to go about creating it. I had one clue, though, from my husband. When he tells a story, he always gets to the good part, the part where you just have to know more and he stops. So you either have to ask a question and look a little bit dumb, or be patient and wait. I hate waiting.

So I went looking through all the writing books…

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My high tech, sf thriller, mystery short story was recently accepted for publication in "Tabloid Purposes IV". Submissions are still open--it sounds like it's going to be a high visibility publication. I did submarines in a futuristic world, should be fun. I'll be interested in hearing if anyone guesses the ending.

One of my best resource books I found Is "Body in Question--Exploring the Cutting Edge in Forensic Science" by Brian Innes. It has gruesome, detailed pictures that supplement the discussion of how Forensic Scientists do their work. The focus of the book is on police procedure--finding the victim and learning about who they are, establishing time of death, establishing cause of death, linking evidence to the guilty party, and understanding the mind of the criminal, oh, and a big discussion about… Continue

It's hard to know what to just shoot the breeze about on a blog. But I write poetry, and I visited Limerick last year, and what great scientist hasn't committed the crime of the world's favorite poems. Here's one of mine:

Mechanic Slip and his brother named Shod…

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