Is Aging a Crime?

 Today, my friend and fellow writer, Janet Greger (J. L. Greger) is my guest writing about aging. Lorna

Sometimes those of us over fifty feel like it’s a crime to look our age. Characters (at least positive ones) in movies, TV shows, and ads are all young, fit, and beautiful.

 One result of this hype is sales of anti-aging products have soared worldwide. Sales of these products in the U.S. alone is estimated to be about $12 billion annually.

 Not surprisingly, mislabeling and false claims for these products are also rampant. That is criminal.

One of the products being widely advertised now is BOTOX. Injections of botulinum toxin drugs, like BOTOX are effective in reducing the signs of aging (i.e. reducing crow’s feet around the eyes, laugh lines, and wrinkles on the brow). However, many doubt the wisdom of—but not the profits from—BOTOX parties. At these events, women receive injections of botulinum toxin at multiple sites in a party environment in someone’s home with plenty of food and alcohol. Nevada has now banned these at-home parties. Many states require that injections at these parties be made by a physician or nurse. However, basic safety requirements are difficult to maintain at these events.

 In the U.S., the FDA is the chief agency monitoring the safety of cosmetic products and assessing the veracity of the claims. Most Americans don’t realize the FDA can not only fine but also incarcerate manufacturers and spa/store owners who knowingly produce, advertise and sell dangerous or mislabeled items.

 The current situation could be described this way: those who try to make the public believe it is a crime to look old are sometimes committing crimes themselves. This is a basic premise in my new mystery.

In FAIR COMPROMISES, twenty residents in New Mexico come into clinics and doctors’ offices complaining of double or blurred vision, sagging eyelids, and headaches the day after a political rally. Public health workers quickly hypothesize the cause was botulism toxin in improperly home canned food served at the rally. Unfortunately, one individual’s symptoms are much more severe. If her muscle paralysis continues unchecked, she will die. New Mexico health officials contact the FBI because this patient is a candidate for the U.S. Senate, and they fear she may have been targeted.

 The mystery turns from being the analysis of a severe food safety breach to the investigation of a diabolical murder attempt using “cosmetic” botulism toxin when scientist Sara Almquist, with the help of a talented FBI lab crew, discovers a more sinister source of the toxin at a spa in Santa Fe. FDA officials then help the FBI solve this case and seek justice for the victims.

FAIR COMPROMISES has a message: It’s not a crime to show your age, and the relentless search for youthful beauty can be dangerous.

 Now you’re ready for some fun. Read FAIR COMPROMISES and see what happens to a politician who tried too hard to look young.

Sara Almquist and her FBI colleagues rush to find who endangered the lives of a hundreds at a political rally by poisoning the food with botulism toxin. The poisoners’ target was a woman candidate for the U.S. Senate; the rest were just collateral damage. As these agents track clues from a veterans’ hall in Clovis to health spas of Santa Fe, they must make a multitude of personal and professional (perhaps too many) compromises.

 

J.L. Greger is a scientist turned novelist. She includes science and international travel in her award-winning mysteries and thrillers: The Flu Is Coming, Games for Couples; Dirty Holy Water, Fair Compromises, and seven others. https://www.jlgreger.com

TODAY MARKS A MILESTONE

 August 31, 2021

One year ago today, my life changed irreparably. I was scrolling through Facebook when a private message popped up: Call Officer R____ at the Covina Police Department ASAP. A phone number followed.

My first reaction was: This must be a joke or a prank. But even as I replied, “Why?” I realized it wasn’t.

I made the call, and the officer confirmed my brother, Ron Lund (known as Rockin’ Ron to his friends), had passed away.

Since our father had died in 1954 and our mother in 2011, we were the only ones left in the family. Now, he was gone, too.

Larry and I immediately set out for Covina—over an hour’s drive from our home in Dana Point. This was in the middle of a heatwave with temperatures in Covina between 110 and 120 degrees. Wildfires raged nearby, so the acrid smell of smoke permeated the air. And it was also during the first COVID peak…

Once we arrived, we were met by Ron’s best friend, Bud, and another friend, Joe. Before too long, two of his other friends arrived. Several of his neighbors also came out—in the heat and smoky air—to tell me how much they had appreciated him.

Their stories of his kindness helped me deal with the initial shock.

We spent the next month cleaning out his mobile home and taking care of the matters of his estate. The busyness helped, but it also allowed me somewhat to avoid dealing with my feelings about losing my brother.

Among his possessions, we discovered a slim, spiral-bound notebook filled with his handwriting. I knew what it was immediately because about ten years earlier he had told me he was writing a book. I promised him I would edit and publish it when he finished it, and he even sent me a chapter so I could show him what it would look like edited. We discussed the title and some of his ideas.

Following his death, several of his friends asked me about “Ron’s book.” Since I hadn’t heard anything more from him, I figured he had given up the idea.

Now, here it was. Not a book, really, more of an outline, and only a few chapters. However, I had made him a promise…

I transcribed it and showed it to Larry. I felt I had to finish it, and he agreed to write the rest with me. (Once I had transcribed it, I gave the original to his best friend since he was the first to ask me about it. After all, I still had the words.)

We began with Ron’s original story, but added a great deal of detail: dialogue, descriptions, feelings, etc. (His words ended at the beginning of Chapter 11, and much of the previous chapters contained our original writing.)

After about four months, we finished the manuscript. He hadn’t told us his intended ending, and I’m glad. As we worked on it, we agreed it could only have one ending.

Dominic Drive was published in January of this year.

The cover image is a photo of an actual sign from the street where we grew up. Ron had retrieved it when they changed the signs from white with black letters to green with white lettering, and he had kept it all these years. Larry changed the name to the name of the book.

It has received wonderful reviews, and many friends have sent me private notes about how much they liked it.

On his birthday, May 31, we had a nice luncheon here at our house where his friends shared more of their memories of him.

Between the book and the stories, I have been able to piece together a more complete picture of my little brother. I am grateful he touched so many lives. And I feel as though I have done everything I could to honor his memory. Not everyone is so fortunate.

Book Covers

Some publishers design the covers for all their books, and the author is not allowed any input. However, we’ve been very lucky with ours. (As a type-A control freak, having some say on what the completed book looks like is very important to me.)

For our first book, 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park, we had intended to use a photo of the two of us at Universal Studios Japan on the cover. However, when we submitted it, we discovered the resolution was not good enough. The book block had been approved, and we were very close to the publication date. Larry went to work and sketched the Universal Studios entrance archway and the pagoda in Kyoto. He faxed them to me. (This was in the days before everyone had scanners at work.) I loved them and showed them to some colleagues who agreed.

When we got home that night, he said he would do formal versions of them. However, I love Japanese Sumi-e painting, and his simple pencil sketches had the same quality. So, he scanned the sketches. (We had a scanner at home.) I did the layout and added the background color. We ended up with a cover I love, but poor Larry never got the credit for the artwork.

 

My next book was the first of our five (to date) romance anthologies, Snowflake Secrets. I knew exactly what I wanted for the cover and even arranged four crocheted snowflakes on a large piece of poster board and sent a photo to the cover artist, Melissa Summers. She took the idea and ran with it, creating a terrific cover. (See mock-up and final cover below.)

Melissa has done all the subsequent covers for the anthologies. I send her suggestions, and then she interprets them to create terrific covers which convey the ideas of each of the novellas in the books.

She also worked with me to create the covers for our mysteries. I wanted a bird of paradise on the cover of the first one, Murder…They Wrote, so I took lots of photos and sent her half a dozen of the best. I also said I pictured a woven reed background. She sent a couple that were just wrong. Since we had intended to write a series, I wanted the same background for all of them. I finally laid a placemat on the table, shot a photo and sent it to her. It became the background for the first book as well as the second, Murder in Paradise, which uses another of my photos of outrigger canoes.

The publisher for Larry’s short story anthology, Lakeview Park, provided a cover design. We didn’t like the front cover image, but the back cover one seemed to work with the book. We asked to have the background changed from the original lime green to teal, and loved the results.

I worked with a new publisher for my fantasy, romance, mystery, Ghost Writer. When I received the initial cover, I was appalled. It was clear to me that the artist had no idea what the book was about since the cover showed two half-naked people and would have worked well for an erotic romance. (I only write sweet romance—with no body parts.) Larry mocked up an idea and sent it back. The artist, Karen Phillips, did a great job using this image, and I was delighted with the final version.

Now we are working with award-winning artist Jenifer Ranieri on the cover for our latest book, the Memory Keeper. Our good friend and fabulous artist, Robert Schwenck (http://www.schwenckart.com) has allowed us to use one of his paintings for the cover. I’m confident we’ll end up with a terrific image for the new book.

Does the cover make a difference to you as a reader? Do any authors have stories (good or bad) about getting the right cover designs for their books? How do you like ours?

Me Write Science Fiction? – Larry Collins, Guest Blogger

I have always loved reading science fiction and fantasy, starting with Jules Verne, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and H.G. Wells when I was in grammar school. Then later A.E. van Vogt, and Ursula K. Le Guin.

In the 1950s, The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien, originally written as one super-long book, broken into three parts by the publisher, led the fantasy realm into what has been dubbed “Epic Fiction” and “Myth Arc” books.

The 1960s and 1970s exploded with myth arc. It is similar to a standard story arc but is larger than can fit in a single book. It demands sequels. Think the Shannara series by Terry Brooks, the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, the Man-Kzin Wars by Larry Niven, or the Well of Souls series by Jack L. Chalker, all of which I have read and enjoyed.

The 1980s and 1990s saw more character-driven stories. Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling is an example. An epic battle between good and evil is the overall myth arc plot, but how the characters, like Dumbledore, Ronald Weasley, and Hermione Granger, change and grow are what make each book interesting.

Okay, So if I like the sci-fi genre, why haven’t I written it?

Science fiction and fantasy usually involve some epic theme: save the world or the universe. I don’t write big themes. My stories tend to involve a small slice of life. In my mysteries, the protagonist solves a murder or saves a friend, but not much more.

As Carl Sagan wrote, "To make an apple pie, you need wheat, apples, a pinch of this and that, and the heat of the oven. The ingredients are made of molecules—sugar, say, or water. The molecules in turn, are made of atoms—carbon, oxygen, hydrogen and a few others. Where do these atoms come from? …the Big Bang, the explosion that began the cosmos. If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe."

I feared writing science fiction required me to invent an entire universe.

Other types of fiction don’t have those requirements. If you’re writing about the old West or the Civil War, the terrain and characters you’ll meet are well known. If you’re collecting characters from present day, you need only to look to the personalities around you. But if you’re making a futuristic universe and populating it with alien species, you need to make all up. Or so I believed.

In our weekly critique group, one of the authors started a young adult science fiction novel. She had questions on how to portray certain events or define an alien landscape. I was able to help her with examples of how other writers handled similar situations.

I realized, as Joseph Campbell said of the hero’s journey, “…we have not even to risk the journey alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path…”

So it is with writing sci-fi. I write my own story, told in my own words. But the concepts of time-travel, faster-than-light spaceflight, or alien encounters are well-known. Readers are familiar with them. I need not re-invent everything.

I’ve finally started a sci-fi story, but in mine, the protagonist sets out to save his kidnapped brother. Another character finds a family. And neither saves the universe. Now I find I’m enjoying writing science fiction as much as I have enjoyed reading it.

Mary Montague Sikes

Today I welcome Mary Montague Sikes (Monti) to my blog. She has written a charming new Christmas book called Daddy’s Christmas Angel. I am such a sucker for Christmas stories, and this one is endearing. So I thought I’d give you all a chance to meet the author.

Thanks for having me as a guest, Lorna.

When did you first begin writing?

For as long as I can remember, I've been writing. I think I've always had a scrap of paper in my hand just in case I want to jot down a thought or idea or even scribble a little drawing. Often, inspiring ideas come to me in the middle of the night, and I hope I can recall them when I get up in the morning.

What genres have you written?

Just about everything from poetry to romance and mystery/suspense. Over the years, I've written hundreds of nonfiction news stories, features, and articles for magazines and newspapers.

How many books do you currently have published?

I have eight novels, a coffee table book, and four "Snapshot in Time" little books, with more to come. Also, I have a "how- to" book, Published! Now $ell It!, and I'm in two anthologies. One of those, Happy Birthday, Mr. Lincoln was a project of the National League of American Pen Women.

Where do you get your characters?

My characters pop into my mind and play out like a movie. I love it when they take over, and I don't know for sure where things are heading!

How do you create your plots?

I usually start with a setting and go from there. For Daddy's Christmas Angel, I began with the idea of a little girl longing for a mother who plots to connect her father with her teacher. I'm not sure from where the idea came, but it's a story that could be set anywhere. I created a fictitious town in Virginia that's based loosely on my own small town. I call it my "Sleepless in Seattle" story because that, too, was heartwarming and sometimes funny.

Who are your favorite authors to read?

I enjoy books by Diane Chamberlain. Years ago, I loved books by Lavyrle Spencer. Interesting that she wrote her first book based on a recurring dream she was having about her grandmother. Her books were quite popular in the 1990s, and several were made into TV movies. She suddenly stopped writing. I keep hoping she'll decide to come back.

What would people who read your books be surprised to find out about you?

That I'm a fitness fanatic and take three classes a week, yoga, tabata and zumba. I'm also a fanatical St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan. Every spring we go to Jupiter, Florida for a week or two of spring training and then I hang onto every moment of each regular season game by way of satellite TV.

Where do you live, and does your locale play a role in your books?

I live in a small town in Tidewater, Virginia. To do anything, including take fitness classes, we have to travel at least 30 minutes. As I mentioned, the area influenced the setting of my latest book, Daddy's Christmas Angel. We live about an hour from Richmond where another book, Dangerous Hearts, takes place. I have another, partly complete, book that features the fictitious small town of Jefferson Point, the setting for Daddy's Christmas Angel.

Do you have a writing routine? If so, what is it?

Yes. I go upstairs to my writing studio right after breakfast. Sometime in early afternoon, we have lunch, and I'm back to either the writing studio or my artist studio on the same floor. Three days a week, my husband and I head to fitness in late afternoon. If I'm still at home, I often continue to work on blogs and other promo work.

Since you wrote a Christmas story, what is your favorite thing about the holiday?

When our three daughters were small, I would love to gather holiday gifts. I also enjoyed creating my own decorations. Now I mostly look forward to having them home for Christmas. Since one of our daughters is an airline pilot, Christmas may be celebrated before or after the real date, depending on her flying schedule.

How do you celebrate?

We open gifts on Christmas Day, or whenever it is for us, then have a festive lunch with turkey usually.

Are there any special and unique traditions in your family?

Interesting question. I don't think so. We just enjoy having time together. When our parents were living, it was special to have all of them come to our house for the opening of gifts. We had friends from Germany who celebrated on Christmas Eve by lighting real candles on their tree. I always envied their tradition a little bit.

You write about a Christmas pageant. I also wrote about one in one of my books. Did you participate as a child?

Yes. Also, when my husband and I were first married, we were Mary and Joseph in the church pageant.

What are you working on now?

Right now, I have some art projects to complete to go along with my book signing events during the month of December.

Mary Montague Sikes is a native Virginian who grew up in the historic city of Fredericksburg in the shadow of Civil War battlefields near the boyhood home of George Washington. Motivated by her surroundings, she started writing and painting at an early age. In high school she developed a fascination for the works of Edgar Allen Poe and was inspired to create short stories. Always intrigued by far-away places, as an adult she began traveling and writing about her journeys to exotic locations. Her first novel, Hearts Across Forever, is set in Jamaica and relates to her interest in the legend of Rose Hall Great House. Using both her writing and her artistic skills, Monti wrote and illustrated a coffee table book, Hotels to Remember. As the Passenger to Paradise, Monti uses travel destinations she has visited as settings for her books. Jungle Jeopardy, the fifth book in the series, starts out in Costa Rica then centers around the Maya ruins of Central America as the story develops. This is a sequel to Secrets by the Sea, continuing the adventures of Dana and Clifton. A Rainbow for Christmas, set in 1869 on a wagon train traveling from Missouri to Denver, is her first western romance. Monti delves into her own teaching background to create her latest book, Daddy’s Christmas Angel, in which seven-year-old Kathleen Ryan connives to have her father meet her second grade teacher.

A professional artist with an MFA in painting, Monti has taught art and been a classroom teacher for children of all ages. Besides her interest in painting, she plays tennis, follows baseball, does step aerobics, and enjoys her family of three adult daughters. Monti and her husband now reside in a little Virginia town situated on three rivers accessed by two beautiful new bridges.

http://marymontaguesikes.blogspot.com

www.marymontaguesikes.com

monti7olen@verizon.net

http://tinyurl.com/6qlofd3 - Amazon author link

http://tinyurl.com/3wgw4go - Barnes and Noble author link

Moving Adjustment

My ‘favorite niece’ Carrie recently asked me to share some advice I had given her when she made her first big move across the country. Her friend is anticipating relocation soon and is anxious about it. So here are some suggestions gleaned from a number of moving experiences:

ORGANIZE BEFORE

Moving is hard enough without being unable to locate the toilet paper or light bulbs the first night in your new home. So I created a system for managing all our stuff. (And we’ve ALWAYS had a LOT of it!)

Label each box as you pack it. Get some colored stickers and designate a different color for each room. (For several of our moves we have actually had floor plans of the new places. We made copies and put the designated sticker on each room. When the movers arrived at the new place, we’d posted a copy of the identification on the front door. It made the move go much smoother. Especially in our move to Japan where we didn’t speak Japanese and the movers didn’t speak English!)

Number each box. Once you’ve decided on the color designations, add a number. The first kitchen box would be K-1. The first Master Bedroom box might be MB-1. The first box for the next  bedroom might be B2-1. Etc.

Make a list for each box. As you pack each box, make a list of exactly what you put in it. Put a colored sticker on the list and write the box number on it. Copy the list. Then put the copy in the box before you seal it and keep the original in a folder or on a clip board for reference once you arrive.

Place the furniture. If you have a dimensioned floor plan, you can do what Larry did when we moved to Japan. The consummate engineer measured each piece of furniture, then made cutouts so we could place each piece on the floor plan. (Today he would probably do the same thing in Visio.) We taped the layout to the door, and the movers knew exactly where everything went.

EARLY DAYS

For the first six weeks or so, you’ll be busy with settling in and getting to know your new location. This is the honeymoon phase. It will feel a bit like a working vacation.

The Japanese have a great tradition I’d suggest. Don’t wait for your neighbors to greet you. As soon as you can, take them a little gift (cookies, a little plant, something from your home area—whatever reflects your interests). Introduce yourself and your family. (In Japan, the gift to your established neighbors was usually a roll of paper towels or bathroom tissue. Not personal, but it broke the ice!)

If you have children, you’ll have less trouble making friends. Generally, your kids will do so for you!

You will have planned for the big changes, but the little ones drive you nuts. You need something in a hurry and have no idea where to find it. In your old town, you’d know exactly where to go. Now you don’t.

Join a church or other religious institution. “Shop” for one until you find the perfect fit. Join a civic group or other organization where you can make friends. (Our church in Kobe was our lifeline during our stay there. Shortly after we arrived, a cap came off my tooth. The folks at the church told me exactly where to go. Otherwise, I’d have had no idea. Of course, I got lost finding the place the first time, but that’s a story in the book.)

THE HONEYMOON ENDS

Around six weeks following the move, you will wake up one day and realize it’s for real and it isn’t just a vacation. Be prepared! You may experience a bit of depression or anxiety.

If you’re prepared for it, you’ll manage much easier. Unfortunately, we were the first ones to relocate to Japan, and I thought I was ready for the funny farm. Seriously. I thought I was going crazy.

I finally read a book on the expat experience and realized what I went through was in fact, normal. Subsequent conversations with others who had lived abroad confirmed it. This is the most important part of your adjustment, and you’ll manage much better if you know it’s coming.

It is the time to do something you really enjoy. Treat yourself to a day at the movies, long walks in the park, etc. But don’t berate yourself. Be gentle. Talk about your feelings with others. Take care of yourself.

With email, IM, Facebook, Skype, etc. you will be more in contact with those you left behind. So reach out to them. Just hearing a familiar voice and seeing a missed face can remind you that you’re not completely alone.

THE CRASH

Somewhere around six months, however, comes the big crash. In Japan, mine came about four and a half months after our arrival, but we had been out of our house in California for nearly six months. I had a complete meltdown. I cried. I moaned. I said I just couldn’t do it for one more day. I was frantic. I felt cut off from everyone and everything in an alien world where I couldn’t even communicate.

Email and telephone didn’t help. (No Skype then.) I just wanted my old life back!

If I had known it was coming, I might have dealt with it better. But I didn’t. (We were the first ones there, remember.)

Fortunately, we were scheduled for a holiday trip home. After we returned, I realized that it wasn’t really so difficult.

The next arrivals began to experience the same anxiety, frustration, anger, etc. shortly after we returned. That’s when the light bulb went on. I started to see a pattern. And I informed all the rest to watch for it. A number of times, team members would slam into my office saying , “You know that six month ‘thing’? Well, I’m there. I’m going crazy!”

I’d talk them through it and assure them it would pass. Sometimes it took several conversations.

Others would become hermits. Because I recognized the signs, we made a point to take them a pizza or get them out of the house for a little break.

A short vacation or trip home to see family is the best cure. Just sharing the feelings with others who have been through it can help immeasurably.

I remember greeting a friend at church shortly before we came back for our vacation when I was at my lowest point.

“How are you doing?” she asked.

“I HATE this place,” I answered.

She laughed. “We all feel that way from time to time. You’ll get over it.”

Her reaction was perfect. I didn’t need or want sympathy or to just be told it would get better. She said just what I needed to hear, which was that I wasn’t crazy!

After about a year, some people really start to feel at home in their new surroundings. That didn’t happen to me in Japan, but I know several friends who were reluctant to leave when the time came, including that friend from church.

MOVES ARE HARD

Even if you have professional movers and lots of support and help, you are being uprooted from your familiar environment. You may be leaving family for the first time. And you will be leaving friends.

But, in hindsight, our moves enriched our lives and exposed us to so many wonderful places and new people we’d never have known otherwise. Heck, our move to Japan even resulted in our first book!

Have you ever made a major move? What advice helped you the most?