I’m in Patty Fletcher’s March-April 2023 Newsletter

Yeah, I’m blessed.

Patty Fletcher included my interview in her March-April 2023 Newsletter.

Patty Fletcher’s The Writer’s Grapevine is a quarterly news and literary magazine featuring Writers, Small Business and Nonprofits.

In each issue you’ll find a variety of Articles, Essays, Short Stories and Poems for your enjoyment and education.

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Want to know the best part?

This is how she introduces me in her newsletter:

It’s been quite some time since I posted an author interview here, but today I’ve got something special for you.
Reading this author’s interview earlier today, with my coffee, the phrase ‘Breath Taking’ kept coming to mind as I thought about how to describe it.

Okay, how about the bestest best part?

This is what she wrote when she emailed her newsletter to her subscribers:

This issue includes an author interview the like of which I’ve seen nowhere else, …

Yeah, I’m blessed.

Read and enjoy!

The Alibi (A John Chance Mystery) – Chapter 2 (New)

As mentioned in The Alibi (A John Chance Mystery) – Chapter 1 (Redux), I work to nail down the opening of whatever I’m working on.

In the case of The Alibi, it means I’ll rewrite opening chapters/scenes/anything and everything until I feel I’ve got it close enough to move on.

And, of course, I’ll share all these writes and rewrites and rerewrites with you because, I know, you enjoy them so.

So here’s The Alibi – Chapter 2, but not again because this is brand new material (read carefully and you’ll even see a note to myself in the text, something I do to make sure I review a specific aspect of a story during the real rewriting as opposed to the I’ve-got-to-get-this-correct rewriting.


The Alibi – Chapter 2

 
Leddy Cranston saw the flickering blue of their living room TV even though the blinds were drawn. “Time.”

Her phone answered, “It’s 11:57, Leddy.”

Pop would be livid.

If he were awake.

But awake or not, he got home first so the door cam would be disabled and she’d have to use her key to get in.

She entered quietly, the only sound in the house some low voices from the TV and Pop snoring on his recliner, probably a book – a genuine book, not an ebook on a reader – half open on his lap, his readers perched on the end of his nose, his sport coat off and his tie loosened but still knotted.

And a fifth of Grand MacNish Scotch barely touched on the end table beside his chair.

Pop would never succeed as a drunk.

She entered the living room just as the glass in his hand started its slide to the floor.

Glass safely on a coaster on the coffee table, Leddy sat on their loveseat. Mom and Pop hogged the loveseat once Leddy was too big to sit between them. Back then Pop never used his recliner. They’d sit side-by-side, Pop with his hand under Mom’s leg or on her leg or holding her hand.

Leddy was relegated to Pop’s recliner.

Did they ever pay attention to what was on the tube or did they just like to sit and cuddle with each other?

That all changed when they came home from the hospital one day. Mom wasn’t feeling well and kept losing her balance. Pop was pale but Mom kept her smile on. That’s when Pop’s hand went from on or under her leg to always around her, holding her close, cherishing each second. That’s when Mom’s hand would rest on Pop’s leg.

They sat her down in the kitchen a few months later. Mom smiled, Pop’s face shined with tears.

“I’m dying, Leddy.”

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Previous entries in The Alibi (A John Chance Mystery):

Previous entries in The Alibi (A John Chance Mystery)

The Change Zone Take 2, Snippet 3 – Embracing Demons

Long ago and far away, Gail @GailMcDonald19 McDonald and Susan @SusanSneath1 Sneath interviewed me on The Change Zone. I shared snippets of our preshow chat starting with The Change Zone Test Chat Snippet #1 – Wolf and Spider.

Well, we’re at it again. This time we’re focusing on That Th!nk You Do, and you can see the entire episode on YouTube.

Gail gave the book a wonderful review which you can read either on the book’s Amazon page, in the book itself, or at Gail @GailMcDonald19 McDonald on That Th!nk You Do. Ditto Susan with her review on the book’s Amazon page, in the book itself, or at Susan @SusanSneath1 Sneath on That Th!nk You Do.

This is the third of six preshow snippets, this one dealing with the embracing one’s demons and turning them into allies.

Enjoy.

 


Previous entries in this series:

The Change Zone Take 2, Snippet 2 – Principles

Long ago and far away, Gail @GailMcDonald19 McDonald and Susan @SusanSneath1 Sneath interviewed me on The Change Zone. I shared snippets of our preshow chat starting with The Change Zone Test Chat Snippet #1 – Wolf and Spider.

Well, we’re at it again. This time we’re focusing on That Th!nk You Do, and you can see the entire episode on YouTube.

Gail gave the book a wonderful review which you can read either on the book’s Amazon page, in the book itself, or at Gail @GailMcDonald19 McDonald on That Th!nk You Do. Ditto Susan with her review on the book’s Amazon page, in the book itself, or at Susan @SusanSneath1 Sneath on That Th!nk You Do.

This is the second of six preshow snippets, this one dealing with the Principles I work with daily.

Enjoy.

 


Previous entries in this series:

Welcome Erasmus

Behold Erasmus.

At first somewhat shy, then not so much so.

It’s amazing what free food can do.

Coyote are like that.

Free food, little effort, it’s a good thing. Especially in The Wild.

I noticed much the same during the middle to late 1980s where the mere mention of free sex and cocaine would cause people to flock from miles around.

Did I say “miles”?

More like states.

Pretty easy to do in New England.

And in the meantime, we’ll let Erasmus dine.

Enjoy.