Mystery Novel Events

I’ve had the opportunity to attend a number of mystery conferences including Bouchercon, The Left Coast Crime Conference and Malice Domestic. Both fans and writers of the mystery genre attend these events, which feature  panels on a wide variety of mystery writing and law enforcement topics.

One other mystery event is coming up this Sunday: Men of Mystery. This is an all day event at the Irvine Marriott, in Irvine, CA. Thirty to fifty men mystery writers each have one minute to pitch their latest novels, and several guests of honor speak. Over lunch we authors sit at a table with about nine mystery fans, answer questions and have a good chat about the mystery genre. Then there is a book signing where the readers can purchase their favorite authors’ books and have them signed. All in all a fun day for both mystery fans and authors.

Memory As We Get Older

In my Paul Jacobson Geezer-lit Mystery Series, the protagonist, Paul Jacobson, has short-term memory loss. In his case, it’s not Alzheimer’s but vascular dementia due to a number of small strokes. As we get older, we all face loss of memory, but most of this is normal and not due to any disease.

One example is what my wife calls “the intervening thought.” I go into a room to get a folder, get distracted when I see a note I left and leave the room without the folder. This happens to us as we get older.

I forget a lot of little things now. One example: last week I took our two-year-old grandson to a playground. I brought along sand toys for him to play with. When it was time to go we packed up, but I forgot to retrieve the sand toys. After we got in the car and I had my grandson seatbelted into his car seat. I realized I had left the sand toys in the sand at the playground. I had to get my grandson out of the car seat and take him back to the playground to retrieve the toys and then return to the car. Extra work that could have been avoided if I had remembered before we left the playground the first time.

The lesson I’ve learned from this type of event. I need to pay attention during transitions. When I’m changing locations, I need to go through a mental checklist to make sure I’ve taken care of everything. If I do this, I have a better chance of not forgetting an important item. Otherwise, I have to write these types of events off as part of my exercise program.

Let's Hear It for Independent Book Stores

I’ve had the pleasure of doing book events at a number of independent book stores in Southern California since we moved here two years ago. By favorites include Gatsby Books in Long Beach, Book Carnival in Orange and Mystery Ink in Huntington Beach.

These book stores provide personalized service for customers and host book events for authors. I’ll be giving a book talk about my latest mystery novel, Death of a Scam Artist, at Mystery Ink ( 8907 Warner Avenue #135, Huntington Beach, CA) this coming Saturday October 14 at 5 PM. This novel takes place in a retirement community, so my talk focuses on the subject of older characters and retirement.

My Writing Journey

Sixteen years ago in 2001, I made the decision that I wanted to retire into writing. I began by taking writing courses at the University of Colorado (we lived in Boulder, CO, at the time and people over the age of 55 could take any courses at CU with the instructor’s permission). My first book, Retirement Homes Are Murder, was published in 2007, and I retired later that year to focus on writing. I’ve been fortunate to have my fourteenth book, Death of a Scam Artist, published this year.

Thank you to all the readers who have inspired me and kept me going.

 

Different Points of View

With all the polarization in our country today, it’s interesting to see how the NFL protests are reported by CNN and Fox News. Both news networks have commentators providing different viewpoints, but both have a predominant way they frame the issue. CNN speaks more about the underlying protest of African-American players against violence to African-Americans, and Fox focuses on patriotism. Both are valid points and need to be brought out in civil discussion.

I’m also struck about the discussion over free speech. The problem is that on either the extreme left or right, proponents are in favor of free speech for their point of view not for the other point of view.

We need to get to a point where we can discuss different points of view without villainizing the opposition.

I'm a Pain in the Back

Have any of you suffered from lower back pain? I’ve been a pain in my own back for the last week. When I was younger, occasionally I pulled a muscle while playing sports, but there was an event that caused pain. Now I have pain in my lower back with no discernable event causing it. One of the things that occurs as I get older. A massage helps and I’ve been doing back exercises.

It makes it difficult to sit at the keyboard for very long, therefore this will be a short post.

 

Lessons from Two-Year-Olds at a Playground

I’ve learned a lot lately when taking our two-year-old grandson to the playground. We’re fortunate in Lakewood, CA, where we live to have a number of excellent playgrounds for little kids. Our favorite is at Bolivar Park. It’s a new playground with excellent climbing, swinging and sliding equipment designed for two to five-year-olds in a fenced-in area with both sand and soft rubber material to protect when children fall. And best of all for a grandpa, there are many benches and shade.

Since our grandson is an only child, playgrounds are a good place for him to interact with peers and learn how to share toys. Two-year-olds are at that age where they start interacting with other kids and are learning to communicate. Several observations:

1. They always want to play with the other kids’ toys. No matter what we bring, our grandson is attracted to a ball, car or truck of another kid.
2. They like to chase each other. Great exercise and lots of enjoyment.
3. Sometimes they want to play together and sometimes they want to play alone.
4. There are altercations, at times, when two kids want to play with the same toy. This leads to trying to grab a toy away or stalking the other kid until he puts the toy down. All the kids are starting to learn to share, some more successfully than others.
5. Most of the kids are well-behaved with supervising parents or grandparents there to encourage sharing. Once in a while there’s a bully and typically the “responsible” adult is on a cell phone.
6. The kids play with everyone no matter the gender or race. A real demonstration how biases are taught and not inherent.