Tag Archives: writing

North Fairhaven Girl, Uncategorized

North Fairhaven Girl: 3

In a recent post, I wrote about my experiences at Oxford School, especially with my fourth-grade teacher who gave me so many opportunities to write. Thanks, Mrs. Darwin. Then in fifth grade I was able to take my writing to another level in a class taught by Donald H. Graves, or Mr. Graves as we kids called him.

That year, a few students from each of our town’s elementary schools were selected to attend an enrichment program held Wednesday afternoons at the Rogers School. We had two classes: advanced science and creative writing. I bet you can guess which class inspired me. And I give Mr. Graves’ approach to creative writing full credit for that.

Mr. Graves used prompts to teach us fifth-graders about similes, metaphors, and other figures of speech. His approach was a deeper way for me to express myself in writing. He compiled what my classmates and I wrote in a mimeographed pamphlet.

Here is a piece I wrote called The Tornado. It’s a little over the top, but keep in mind, I was 10. I recall Mr. Graves called my parents to talk with them about it. I have held onto the typed and handwritten versions all these years. 

The winds of torment strike the grey sky with evil destructive movements. Its path tears the world apart with its wind. The sun struggles to set the sky afire with its golden sunshine, but is shoved aside to hide with the clouds. Trees sweep the winds hoping for mercy. The sea of grass bows at the sight of this evil destruction. Fields of corn are whipped and left to die for they would not bow and worship him. Mountain tops are bitten off piece by pieces until it too will follow with the others and bow to worship, but the proud mountains stand tall as ever in trying to hold back the winds. The winds of evil torment goes on to finish his evil scheme.

I so looked forward to Wednesday afternoons when a parent drove us to Rogers School and then brought us back at the end of the day. This program was also an opportunity for me to meet students from other parts of our town who would later be my classmates at junior high and high school.

Frankly, I had to wait until I was in college to get anything similar to what Mr. Graves taught me. I found it limiting to write what the teachers expected of me in English classes.

According to his obituary I found online, Donald H. Graves, who died in 2010 at age 80, lived a life filled with interests and accomplishments. (That’s the photo used in the obit.) He served in the Coast Guard, and then taught at East Fairhaven Elementary School before he became its principal. Later, he went into the ministry and was a professor at the University of New Hampshire. In 1976 he founded the Writing Process Laboratory at UNH where he remained until he retired in 1992. His research with elementary children at Atkinson Academy inspired his first book: Writing: Teachers & Children at Work. He wrote 25 more. Many of Mr. Graves books are available on Amazon.

When I started writing novels as an adult, I reached out to Mr. Graves after I found him online, sending a note to thank him. He responded and sent me a few of the books he wrote.

This passage came from his obit: “Don was internationally known for his work in children’s writing. His deep conviction that children wanted to write pervaded his teachings and radically changed expectations for what young children could accomplish if they were treated as writers.”

Yes, that’s what happened to me. And I tried to do the same whenever I had an opportunity to teach writing. Thank you, Mr. Graves.

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Isabel Long Mystery Series

Listening to My Mistakes

When I was a kid, reading aloud meant an adult with a good voice repeated the words of a book to me, sometimes with voices to make it interesting. I did the same for my own. But as a writer, the term reading aloud has a different meaning. It’s how I listen to the mistakes I made in the book I wrote.

I reserve the Read Aloud function of Word for the last round of edits of the books I write. That’s what I did recently for Finding the Source, the eighth in my Isabel Long Mystery Series. I want it to be as clean as I can possible before I submit it to my publisher Bloodhound Books. And that’s where Samantha, one of the voice options available for Read Aloud, helped me out.

Read Aloud offers a variety of voices but I chose her since the book is a first-person narrative by a woman. Plus, hers was the least weird to me. (When I had an earlier version of Word, the narrator was a man I called Frank.)

Here she is reading the novel’s opening words.

Samantha’s voice has zero emotion and some of her pronunciations are a bit odd. But she’s been so useful bringing to my attention missing words, typos, repeated words, and parts of sentences that just don’t cut it. Frankly, Samantha helped me find a lot of them. 

I had gone over this novel many times, half-way through, and then when I reached ta-da the end. But as I did with other books, I’ve found it so effective to hear Finding the Source being read by somebody else, and that’s where Samantha helps out. I follow along, reading the words on my computer screen as she says them. I interrupt her to make any changes.

Yes, I tried reading my books aloud myself but Samantha does a much better job.

It is a time-consuming process. Finding the Source is almost 76,000 words, so I spread the task over four days to keep things fresh. Of course, another set of eyes and a fresh mind will likely find more. That’s what real editors are for. But right now, I am pleased with the work Samantha did.

And, yes, I did use Read Aloud for the first three books in my Isabel Long Mystery Series, recently republished by Bloodhound Books: to Chasing the Case, Redneck’s Revenge and Checking the Traps.

ABOUT THE PHOTO ABOVE: This is a scene from the village where I live. Certainly, one of the most unusual ways to fix that problem.

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Isabel Long Mystery Series

Transferable Skills

Isabel Long, the protagonist of my mystery series, was a long-time journalist before she became a private investigator. So was I, but I don’t plan to become a P.I. Instead, I will continue writing about one.

The series is set in the small, rural hilltowns of Western Massachusetts, where I got my start in the newspaper biz. I was hired as a correspondent — paid by the inch — to cover the hilltown where I lived, Worthington, population 1,200, for the Daily Hampshire Gazette. I had no previous experience, except for reading neswpapers, but that didn’t seem to matter to the editor who hired me.

That experience grew into a 35-year career working for newspapers. including as editor-in-chief for The Taos News in Taos, New Mexico — an immensely interesting experience. My most recent gig was an editor-in-chief overseeing three daily newspapers in Western Mass. — Greenfield Recorder, Daily Hampshire Gazette and Athol Daily News.

But back to the start, I reported first on Worthington as I learned the ropes and eventually covered several towns, plus did regional stories. I loved breaking a news story and getting to know what people did. I went to town meetings and reported what interested the community from truck pulls to school events to country fairs. I covered fires and what little crime there was. I did profiles. A few of my stories went national. I even went to the White House.

One of the greatest benefits was listening to the way people talked and writing it down. I believe it has paid off with realistic dialogue in my fiction.

It also gave me insight into how people behave, and certainly I had a total immersion into the hilltowns of Western Mass., which I use as a setting for much of my fiction.

And as an aside, working as reporter broke a 25-year writer’s block.

Back to Isabel, who also covered the hilltowns of Western Mass. until, like me, she moved up to being the top editor. She lost her job managing a newspaper when it went corporate. (To set the record straight, that didn’t happen to me.) In Chasing the Case, no. 1 in the series, Isabel decides to revisit her first big story as a rookie reporter — when a woman went missing 28 years earlier from the fictional town of Conwell.

She relies on the skills she used as a journalist for that case and the ones after. The first three in the series were recently re-released by Bloodhound Books: Chasing the Case, Redneck’s Revenge and Checking the Traps.

By the way, since Isabel snagged a bunch of cold case files from her newspaper, it was an opportunity for me to write news stories again — although for made-up subjects. Here’s the start of one with the headline: Conwell woman missing.

CONWELL — Police are investigating the disappearance of Adela Snow Collins, 38, a Conwell native, who was reported missing Tuesday, Sept. 15 by her family when she failed to show up for work at the town’s only store.

State Police, who were called to assist the Conwell Police Department, issued a statement they are treating her disappearance as a missing persons case and at this time, do not suspect any criminal activity.

Her father, Andrew Snow, said in an interview he became concerned when Collins wasn’t on time because she was always prompt even during bad weather. “She only lives three hundred yards from the store,” he said.

Snow said he walked to his daughter’s house on Booker Road when she didn’t answer the telephone despite calling several times. He said he thought maybe she was ill although she seemed fine the day before.

But Snow said he couldn’t find his daughter or her car in the garage. Her purse was on the kitchen table and her dog was inside the house.

“That’s when I called the police,” Snow said. “This isn’t like my daughter at all. The last time I saw her, I was locking up the store. She always tells us where she’s going especially if she’s leaving town, and she didn’t say anything. We’re all so worried for her. Please, if anyone knows anything, call the State Police.”

Customers at the Conwell General Store also expressed concern for Collins, who has worked in the family’s business since she was a teenager. She grew up in Conwell and attended local schools. She has one son, Dale, 10, who was staying overnight at his grandparents’ house, according to police.

“You couldn’t ask for a sweeter person,” said Thomas MacIntyre, who works on the town’s highway crew. “We‘ve known each other since we were kids. I hope she’s okay.”

Franny Goodwin, who was Collins’s first-grade teacher, says she can’t recall anything like the woman’s disappearance happening in the small town.

“We only have a thousand people living here,” she said. “How can a woman just up and disappear? You tell me.”

State Police say anyone who may have information about Collins should call the barracks in Vincent.

So what skills would Isabel find transferable? Certainly, breaking down the elements of a story and figuring who to contact. Good interview skills are a must. Developing a network of sources for tips is another. And she’s got to be good kind of nosy.

And there are times when a journalist has to be a bit brave. For Isabel, that means talking with somebody who has something to hide — like maybe murdering another person. By the way, she’s really good at that.

IMAGE ABOVE: That’s my first press pass. By the way, I only had to use it twice to prove I was a journalist: at the White House and Cummington Fair.

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Isabel Long Mystery Series

What’s Good About Bad Guys

Not all of the characters I create are nice people. After all, this is a mystery series, and somebody has to have committed a crime, say a murder, an attempted one, even a kidnapped baby — and got away with it. And as Isabel Long has discovered as she tries to solve each cold case, there are suspects who could be classified as bad guys. That includes women by the way.

Frankly, I enjoy creating these characters and often keep several around for more than one book. I try to create characters that are complex, so their villainy might not be apparent. Or they might have some redeeming characteristics that shows they aren’t all bad after all. And sometimes they might seem like they’re okay, but as Isabel finds out, they’re not.

I am going to focus on the first three books in the series — Chasing the Case, Redneck’s Revenge, and Checking the Traps— which were recently released by Bloodhound Books.

In Chasing the Case, Victor Wilson is a suspect in the disappearance of Adela Collins 28 years earlier. (It was Isabel’s first big story as a rookie reporter.) He’s one of those unfriendly guys living in what looks like a stockade on one of the town’s back roads. Isabel has a good guess what he does there and it isn’t growing orchids in a greenhouse. You know the type — quiet and keeps to himself — for a good reason.

Vincent is on the permanently banned list at the Rooster for coming in one night spouting White Supremacist “crap” and carrying a gun. Here’s what Isabel has to say about him: “I typically see him pumping gas outside the general store. Once in a while, Victor comes to town meetings to bitch about something. He’s a scrawny dude with a long hipster beard, before it came into style, and naturally, a wild head of hair. I have no idea what he does for a living.”

But did Victor have anything to do with Adela’s disappearance. I’m not saying.

In Redneck’s Revenge, Annette Waters hires Isabel — for free mechanical service for life at her Rough Waters Junkyard and Garage — to investigate the death of her father Chet. It appears Chet was too drunk to get out of his house when it caught fire. Her father might have been an SOB of a guy, but Annette doesn’t believe his death was accidental.

Among the suspects are two brothers, Gary and Larry Beaumont, drug dealers who terrorized Isabel. The brothers live in a dump of a house and have the manners of feral dogs. They allegedly were responsible for drugs found in a junked car that was delivered to Rough Waters. Oh, Gary’s the father of Annette’s grown son after a brief relationship as teenagers — a secret she keeps to herself.

Isabel goes with Annette to Baxter’s Bar to meet Gary and Larry who were being elusive. (They are banned from the Rooster for selling drugs in the parking lot.) This is what Annette says when the brothers arrive: “Hard to tell ’em apart, eh?” Annette says. “Well, the ugly son of a bitch with the mustache is Gary. The other ugly son of a bitch with the scar down the side of his face is Larry. It’s from a car crash, not a knife fight although he’s been in a couple of those.”

I grew so fond of the brothers, I have kept them through the series. I have also added more complexity to their personalities. Maybe they’re not upstanding citizens, but they aren’t just bad guys.

For instance, Gary, the alpha brother, hires Isabel for her third case in Checking the Traps. Gary wants Isabel to find out what happened to their half-brother Cary. He doesn’t believe for a second that Cary, who worked on a highway crew and wrote poetry at night, jumped off a bridge in a neighboring town that is known for suicides. He is sure somebody murdered him.

The chief suspects are one of Gary’s business associate, yes, Victor Wilson, and a famous but rather snotty poet, Cyrus Nilsson, who plagiarized his brother’s poetry for an award-winning book. Could a poet be a bad guy? Sure, why not?

Here are the links to those books: : Chasing the Case, Redneck’s Revengeand Checking the Traps. Thank you if you do.

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Isabel Long Mystery Series

Meet My Victims

My mysteries always have a victim. And it’s Isabel Long’s mission to find out what really happened to that person.

Isabel, a longtime journalist turned P.I., focuses on solving cold cases in the fictional hilltowns of Western Massachusetts. So, I try to give her cases that will challenge her — and readers of the series. 

Since the setting is a rural area, likewise the characters I create fit right in. Most are locals whose families have lived there at least a couple of generations although there are newcomers, including Isabel who moved with her family to the small town of Conwell, population 1,000, from Boston.

After living in small rural towns for many years, I feel I have done enough people watching to create authentic characters although I should be clear none are based on real people. As I’ve shared before, my motto is: I take what I know and have my way with it.

Currently, I am completing the eighth in the series. In all but one, which was the case of a missing person, the victims are long deceased. Their deaths were ruled accidents, presumed dead or a suicide, but a person closest to them doesn’t believe that’s what happened. Actually, let me back up and say that no. eight has an outright murder that happened 43 years ago. 

But for this post, I am going to focus on the victims from the first three books in the series, since they were recently republished by Bloodhound Books.

In the first, Chasing the Case, a woman disappeared 28 years earlier. Adela Collins walked home from her family’s general store and was never seen again. It was also Isabel’s first big story as a rookie reporter. As she finds out when she pursues this case, Adela has a few secrets.

In the second, Redneck’s Revenge, Chet Waters, a junkyard owner supposedly died in a fire because he was too drunk to get out. But his daughter, Annette Waters, who now owns that junkyard, doesn’t believe it. Chet might have been an SOB, but Annette, believes he deserves better.

And in Checking the Traps, the victim is a highway worker by day and a poet by night. The official ruling was that Cary Moore jumped from a bridge known for suicides. For years, his half-brother Gary has been trying to get someone to look into it, and now that Isabel has solved two cases, he turns to her for help.

In each book, I try to give readers a portrait of each victim through the words of the people Isabel Long interviews. You can check out her handiwork in the first three books in the series: Chasing the Case, Redneck’s Revenge and Checking the Traps. Thank you if you do.

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