Sharing Memories

Our new book, The Memory Keeper, begins, “In the end, only memories remain.”

This came home to us dramatically during the past couple of weeks.

A week ago Saturday, we attended Larry’s fiftieth high school reunion, where we saw many former schoolmates and renewed friendships. Since we grew up in the same neighborhood, and I attended the same school, graduating two years behind Larry, I also knew many of those in attendance.

Some people had changed; others hadn’t. But we all had shared life experiences. The economic and cultural differences in our childhoods seem to have disappeared along with the years. We found that what we shared was far more valuable than what we didn’t. And most of us still remembered how to sing the alma mater—which we did.

One of the folks had put together a short video with photos of the classmates we’d lost over the years, and our mutual sadness and sense of loss filled the room. At the same time, we also shared our gratitude for having known them.

That same sentiment recurred this week when we attended the celebration of the life of my former sister-in-law, Sheila, who died last week.

The event was held at her sister’s home with the entire family present. Since we’d all grown up in the same neighborhood and attended school together, there were few strangers.

When our kids were little, Sheila and I had been quite close, and Kim had been even closer to her auntie. So we felt a genuine loss at her passing.

The remarkable thing was that the three sisters (Sheila, her twin, Sharon, and their older sister, Sue) had all been married twice. And two of the three ex-husbands came. As one told me, “I’m still a member of this family. In fact, my ex-wife and I are better friends now than we’ve ever been.” That says a lot about the love that surrounded everyone.

Our nephew-in-law had put together a slide show of photos of the girls throughout their lives. It played all day. We enjoyed seeing everyone as children. Because the three girls were close in age, we’d thought they were triplets when they were small. They were all about the same size and dressed alike. In fact, their mother told us she often referred to them as ‘the triplets.’

We attended the event primarily to support our niece and nephew. We had a chance to talk to each one of them and were very pleased to hear that they’d been able to spend some quality time with their mom at the end, bringing closure to some childhood issues. We had certainly prayed for that, and our prayers seem to have been answered.

Many of those present had attended our high school, so we heard stories of mutually-shared experiences. Many conversations began, “Remember when…” And we did.

One of the couples looked familiar to us, but we couldn’t place exactly who they were. They finally approached us with the same question. It turns out that he is the brother of Sue’s husband, and he and Larry were in the same class. They had been at the reunion the week before, but we were seated inside and they were outside. We’d probably passed each other several times during the night, but we weren’t able to talk. On Saturday, we did.

Seated at the same table with us at the reunion was a woman who was the girls’ first cousin. Although our hometown of Alhambra, California wasn’t terribly small, our housing tract was. Most of the families bought their homes when the tract was first built, and the majority of them had small children. We’ve always referred to it as an extended family because we all knew each other.

This cousin’s sister had been in my grade, and she was in Larry’s. I said, “I guess you’ve heard about Sheila.”

She gave me a questioning look and answered, “No. What about her?”

At that point, Sheila was in a coma from which she did not emerge. I felt badly about breaking the news at this occasion, but I also felt she should know.

We then learned that the families had been estranged for many years following the death of the girls’ grandmother. The cousin, however, was deeply shaken to discover that Sheila was near death.

She took the initiative and called her cousin Sue. They have agreed to remain in touch and to get together soon.

On Saturday, Sue told me that she’d talked to her mother about her cousin’s call. Sue said she’d like to invite her cousin to come for a visit and that she’d like for her mother to be there.

Her mother’s surprising response was, “That would be very nice.”

So I expect that soon that the family will be sharing more memories and, hopefully, some much-needed healing.

In the end, only memories remain. And we all ought to be grateful that we’re still here to share them.

Website 101

So you’ve determined you need a website for whatever reason. Where do you start? What should you consider as you build it?

Whether you hire a professional or use some of the readily-available software to create it yourself, these are the things to keep in mind.

1.     Branding

This is the entire reason for building your site: to brand yourself and/or your product or service. Your brand must be consistent throughout your site and reflect the image you wish to portray.

2.     Site Name

This is the most important element of your site. Choose it wisely. Hopefully, it will exist for a long time, so be sure it represents you and your product or service. In other words, your brand. Don’t limit it, but consider where you might carry your brand in the future.

Don’t make it too long and complex or too simple. Make it easy to remember.

We chose our names as our brand (www.lornalarry.com). Mine is relatively distinctive, and by using both, we had a simple and easy-to-remember site name that doesn’t require typing a large number of characters.

We’re authors and, although we had only written one book at the time we created the site, we anticipated a future where there might be more. Some authors we know created a site with the name of their first book. Then they wrote a second. Since their first site was already established, they were faced with a conundrum: put the second book on the same site with the first book or create a second. Since there is some cost involved with each site (unless your publisher provides a page for you), the second choice could become expensive. And the first doesn’t easily identify your subsequent books. So select your name wisely.

3.     Banner Image

The image at the top of your Home page is the first thing your viewers will see. Make it attractive and consistent with your brand. Since our site reflects us as writers, we have always had our photo on the banner. Our wonderful webmaster, Toshihiro Komiyama, created this one from our latest photo. And we love it!

It identifies who we are and what we do.

4.     Target Audience

Determine who your target audience will be. Ours is readers. Of course we hope that friends, family, co-workers, and others interested in the subject matter about which we write will also find us. Knowing your audience will help you make the other choices in the design of your site.

5.     Style

Will your site be homey and friendly or formal? Will it exist primarily for information, or will you add value? Is it ‘cute,’ ‘classic,’ or ‘funky’? Again, define your brand before you choose a style. Knowing your audience will also determine the approach. Whatever style you choose, make it consistent throughout the site.

6.     Theme

On our site, we carry the banner and site navigation on each page. This provides consistency and makes it easier to move around the site. All fonts must be consistent and clear. Choose sans-serif fonts for easier reading online. If you pick an elaborate script font, keep in mind that it will be hard to read. Some specialty fonts may not even show up on all devices.

Since more and more people are viewing the Internet on their mobile devices, the simpler the font, the easier to read, even on smaller screens.

And keep your branding and theme consistent. If you write romance, your theme may be flowery and romantic. On the other hand, if you write dark mysteries, you may choose dark colors that convey a sense of foreboding. But your site must always be inviting to a visitor.

7.     Content

What will you put on your site? Know this before you begin the design. Most professional site builders outline the content for their sites prior to building them. You should, too.

How many pages? What will be on them? How much information do you intend to provide?

Keep in mind, your site must be updated constantly for it to be picked up by browsers. ‘Stale data’ (information that has become static and unchanging) will not show up in searches. So keep it simple and don’t disclose too much. As authors, we don’t include large sections of our books, for example. We want our fans to read the entire work. But we do offer lots of ‘extras’ for those who visit.

8.     Extras

What do I mean by extras? Additional information not available elsewhere.

For instance, we include tidbits for each of our books. For some, we add a character sketch of the person who inspired a character, like Countess Elektra Rozanska in Murder… They Wrote or Lovie Cooper in Murder in Paradise.

For 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park, we included a chapter called “Be Still” which was deleted from the final version of the book.

We also embed the video trailers we’ve created for several of our books.

9.     Photos

The phrase, ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ applies. However, be aware that photos are also data-intensive and may require more time to upload (cache). Photos make your site more interesting. Just don’t overload each page with them as viewers won’t wait for lots of images to download.

10.            White Space

I’m currently reading a self-published book with the text crammed onto the page with almost no margins. It is extremely difficult to read. Be sure to include enough blank space around your text for easier reading.

11.            Links

In addition to information, include links to other sites and places of interest to the people who view your site.

We have links on our site for various locations to purchase our book, including a cart on the site itself. We also belong to several organizations, so we have links to those. And we include the links to this blog, Facebook, and Twitter.

12.            Contact Information

When people find you, they must be able to contact you. This can be done by using a ‘blind’ form without a visible email address or with an address dedicated to your business.

13.            Key Words

These are invisible words linked to each page of your site which contain searchable clues as to the content on the page. These also help search engines find your information easily. Don’t forget to include them.

These are the basic elements of a website. Within this framework, give your creativity a chance to shine, but don’t get too clever. The KISS theory applies: Keep It Simple, Stupid. Those who find your site will thank you.

Guest Interview with Mystery Author Marilyn Meredith

Today my guest is mystery writer and good friend, Marilyn Meredith. We met at a writers’ conference several years ago and have since become good friends. We also discovered we share the same birthday! (Maybe that’s why we are so compatible!) So I’m delighted to welcome Marilyn today.

And I’m delighted to be here. Lorna and I have a lot in common besides our birthdays.

We know each other pretty well, but I never asked where you grew up.

I was born in Glendale but lived my whole growing up years in Eagle Rock which is located between Glendale and Pasadena. During my childhood we actually had lots of vacant lots and a hill behind us with no houses. (A freeway is there now.) Streetcars were plentiful and as a kid and teen I utilized that transportation a lot to go downtown to the main library, shopping, and sometimes, making transfers, all the way to the beach.

I’m a bit younger, but I remember the old ‘red cars’. They brought them back at Disney’s California Adventure. And we took them to my grandmother’s once or twice. 

What kind of childhood did you have? Were there siblings?

I had a great childhood. That was back in the day where we could do whatever we wanted as long as we were back home by 5. (That’s when my dad got home and we had dinner.) Mom never had a clue where I was all the rest of the time. Of course we walked to school and back. Junior High we walked sometimes and sometimes took the bus part way. I suspect it was about four miles each way. High School was a long walk, a bus, transfer to the streetcar and another long walk. There was another way, up over the hill behind out house but that really wasn’t safe—but we did do it once in a while.

My sister was five years younger than me and looked like Margaret O’Brien, the child star. It was during the war and I told everyone that she was a princess from Europe who had been sent here for her safety. The one who believed the story the longest was my sister and she truly thought our parents ended up adopting her. See, I was a big story teller back then too.

My dad always thought I could do anything, and I think that probably affected me more than anything. I’ve always felt like I could do anything I set out to do.

You sound like a great storyteller, indeed! When did you first realize you could write? Did you always enjoy it?

I started creating stories before I could write—drawing pictures that told a story. I always wrote stories while I was growing up. I wrote plays for the neighborhood kids to perform during the long summers. I knew I was a good writer and when I grew up I always volunteered for writing jobs like the PTA newsletter as an adult. I also wrote plays for my Camp Fire Girls to star in. Because I had five children and a husband who was often gone (he was a career Seabee) I didn’t have much spare time for writing, though I always had a book to read. I attempted writing books without much success until most of my kids were grown.

What other jobs have you done during your life? Did they influence your writing?

Babysitter from the time I was 10 (crazy people leaving a kid with their babies), did inventory for a big department store, worked at filing for the phone company, telephone operator including information off and on for years, 10 years as a teacher in a pre-school for developmentally disabled kids, 3 years as a day care center teacher, twenty plus years as an owner and administrator of a licensed care home for six developmentally disabled women.

Everything influences my writing. All the people I’ve met along the way, of course, are a part of characters I’ve created. Experiences I’ve had help me to create experiences for my characters and to know how they feel when things happen to them.

What was your first book? Was it published? Is it still in print?

My first full length book I wrote I sent out to a publisher, it was rejected and I gave up and threw the whole thing away. (Dumb.) The first full length book I wrote that was accepted was called Trail to Glory. It was a family saga based on my own family’s genealogy. I wrote and rewrote it many times. It was rejected nearly 30 times before it was accepted by a New York publisher. No, it’s not still in print. I hope to redo it for Kindle one of these days.

You should! I’d enjoy reading it. 

Many of us (yours truly included) have a stash of unfinished or simply older manuscripts sitting around. Do you? 

I used to, but no longer. I got rid of them—recycled the paper and they are no longer on my computer.

I keep hoping to get back to at least one of mine.

As you know, I love your Tempe Crabtree series. How did you come up with her, or did she come to you and demand to be written? (My characters frequently do this.)

Tempe evolved from three women I met after I moved to the foothill community where I live now. The first was a female police officer I did a ride-along with who literally poured her heart out to me about being the only woman on that department. The second was the resident deputy of our area who I interviewed for a newspaper article. She told me a lot about her experience as a female in a male dominated job—plus what kind of things she was called upon to do. The third was a Native American woman I met at an event where we had a lot of time to talk. I based Tempe’s looks on her.

How did you come up with her name? It’s unusual and memorable without being weird—and that’s the trick

.

Tempe Crabtree was my great-grandmother’s name. Unfortunately I never had the opportunity to meet her, but she grew up and lived in the area where I live now. I loved the name and it fit the character I created.

Wow! What a great gift! You didn’t even have to go looking for the name.

Tempe lives in a locale similar to your own. Does that make it easier to write about the place?

Bear Creek has a strong resemblance to Springville. The big difference is I moved Bear Creek into the mountains a 1000 feet mainly to have better trees. Springville has the Tule River running through it; the town of Bear Creek is named after the river running through it. Springville has an Inn like Bear Creek and some of the same restaurants and stores. I don’t use the actual places because unfortunately, businesses have a hard time making it here. I can see Bear Creek in my head and though it’s similar there are some big differences.

I know that your son-in-law was in law enforcement. Did that spark your interest in that profession, or were you interested before?

When we lived in Oxnard we had a lot of neighbors who were police officers. We partied with them and the wives and I became friends. This gave me a lot of insight into how the job affected the families and vice versa. I didn’t become interested in writing about law enforcement until my son-in-law became a police officer and stopped at our house every morning for coffee and told me his tales about what he did on his shift. I also went on my first ride-along with him.

Which came first, the Rocky Bluff series or the Tempe Crabtree one?

The Rocky Bluff P.D. series came first, though it wasn’t long before I was writing one and then the other.

You told me that the same son-in-law was the inspiration for your EPIC eBook Award winner, Lingering Sprit. Do you ever draw inspiration from other family members or friends?

I’ve never written another book that was inspired by something that actually happened in our family. I have been inspired by many true events. And I must confess, I put a lot of people I know or have met into my books, fortunately they never recognize themselves.

Speaking of family, we couldn’t leave out your darling husband, Hap. Does he ever inspire your characters? 

Hubby has never been an inspiration for a character, however many of his attributes show up in Hutch. Though Pastor Hutch, Tempe’s husband, is not based on my husband, many of Hutch’s beliefs and convictions are a lot like my hubby’s. 

Before you leave, tell us a little about your new Tempe Crabtree mystery, Raging Water.

Deputy Tempe Crabtree’s investigation of the murder of two close friends is complicated when relentless rain turns Bear Creek into a raging river. Homes are inundated and a mud slide blocks the only road out of Bear Creek stranding many—including the murderer.

Can’t wait to read it!

Thank you for stopping by today. We look forward to seeing you in person soon.

Thank you for this opportunity. I’m looking forward to spending time with the both of you in the near future also.

Contest: The person who leaves comments on the most blogs will have his/her name used for a character in my next book—can choose if you want it in a Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery or a Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel.

Marilyn Meredith is the author of over thirty published novels, including the award winning Deputy Tempe Crabtree mystery series, the latest Raging Water from Mundania Press. Writing as F. M. Meredith, her latest Rocky Bluff P.D. crime novel us No Bells, the forth from Oak Tree Press. Marilyn is a member of EPIC, three chapters of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, and on the board of the Public Safety Writers of America. Visit her at http://fictionforyou.com and follow her blog at http://marilymeredith.blogspot.com/

I know there are some people who like to read a series in order, but let me reassure you that every book is complete. Though the characters grow through each book, the crime is always solved. Here is the order of the books for anyone who wants to know: Deadly Trail, Deadly Omen, Unequally Yoked, Intervention, Wing Beat, Calling the Dead, Judgment Fire, Kindred Spirits, Dispel the Mist, Invisible Path, Bears With Us, Raging Water.

Theme Park Junkies

Okay, we are self-confessed theme park junkies. We were two of the many kids who grew up watching the TV show Disneyland, an unabashed infomercial for Walt Disney’s new amusement park being built in Anaheim, CA.

 

We were both children at the time, but we each went to the park (the term ‘theme park’ was yet to come) during its first year of operation.

My grandmother took my mother, brother, and me in August, 1955, one month after opening, for my birthday. None of us knew exactly what to expect, but Ron and I had been well-primed. The place more than lived up to our expectations. Since I was already in love with fairy tales, the magic captured me immediately.

Larry went first on his brother’s birthday the following March and again on his own birthday in April. He loved it as much as I. We discovered our mutual addiction when we were dating, and in fact, attended the very first New Year’s Eve Party at the park.

We continued to go through the years, and I can’t ever recall having anything but a great time.

That’s probably why when Larry was offered a job helping to build the Universal Studios Japan theme park in Osaka, Japan, he jumped at the chance. Well, being able to work on Jurassic Park, JAWS and WaterWorld didn’t hurt! The extra bonus was a job for me in Document Control once we arrived in Japan.

During our time there, we made good friends and really got to know the ins and outs of theme park construction. That knowledge merely increased our love for that form of escapist entertainment. We even wrote a book about it: 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park.

After we returned to California, our daughter, Kim, began working at Disneyland, so we bought annual passes. We’ve had them nearly every year since.

We recently celebrated our forty-seventh anniversary. Where did we go? To Disney, of course. Although this time we chose Disney’s California Adventure since we hadn’t ridden on two of the new rides in Cars Land. And, once again, we had a ball.

How about you? Do you like theme parks, too?

Why I Need an Editor

As many of you may know, I edit for a couple of publishers as well as on contract and for friends. I’m pretty tough, and I do both content and line editing. So why do I need an editor? (And why does every other writer?)

1.   I’m too close to the material. I know what it’s supposed to say, and therefore I read it that way. I learned this lesson the hard way with our first book, 31 Months in Japan: The Building of a Theme Park. After three complete rewrites plus a complete edit by the publisher, I thought we’d gotten all the bugs out. My then-boss read the book and mentioned she’d found an error. (She’s one of the best proofreaders I know.) I asked what it was, and sure enough, it was right there. A letter had been left out of a word, and all of us missed it.

2.   Even with an editor, mistakes creep in. (I attribute the errors to the Menehune, by the way.) However, fewer mistakes appear when a professional goes through the manuscript after I’ve taken a few whacks at it.

3.    We run all our work through our critique group.They catch the small errors and make suggestions for improvement. However, in doing the corrections for the critiques, that pesky delete button sometimes gets carried away, and words that should have been left in get deleted. Or the opposite can happen. Words that should have been deleted just won’t leave.

4.   I tend to overuse certain words, like three times in the same paragraph when there are perfectly good synonyms. Our critique group usually catches those, but not always. My editor does, however.

5.   It’s easy to leave out quotation marks and to either add or omit other punctuation. When I do a professional edit, the last pass is usually to check to make sure that all sentences end with punctuation and that all quotes are in pairs. I don’t always see these in my own work because I’m usually more concerned about content.

6.   When you develop a good relationship with an editor who enjoys your writing and who understands your style of storytelling, the mutual trust level increases. Whenever a particular editor makes a comment, I pay attention. She understands me well enough to know when I haven’t made an important point clear enough, and she isn’t afraid to point out where I haven’t answered a question or completed a story arc adequately. She also makes notes of the things she likes in the story. That affirmation really helps me know when I’m on the right track.

7.   I always know the backstory for my books, but I’m afraid of interjecting ‘reader feeder.’ So I sometimes need to be told that the reader may need the additional information. When editing Larry’s book, Lakeview Park, I had to remind him several times about including enough detail to explain a character’s motivation.

8.   Even editors can make grammar errors when they put on their writing hats. I depend on my editor to point out when I’ve done that. Split infinitives and confusing pronoun references are probably the biggest issues. I know better, but sometimes in the rewriting, those kinds of things can occur.

9.   A good editor can be your best asset in producing a great book, On the other hand, a poor edit can make the difference between an enjoyable story and one that is difficult to read, and therefore not a pleasure.

 

So, why do I need an editor? Because, for my own books, I’m the writer. That’s my primary job. And I leave the final edit up to my editor. I’ve been blessed with terrific people who’ve worked with me to produce books I can be proud of. I did encounter one editor who made up some rules of her own (not per Chicago Manual of Style or Strunk and White's Elements of Style) and then insisted on changing the manuscript to conform. I protested to the publisher, but the book went out as edited.

That’s why I always tell those authors with whom I’m working that the manuscript ultimately belongs to them, not to me. I merely make suggestions, and they are free to accept or reject them.

I requested a different editor for the next book and the let the publisher know the reasons I didn’t feel the other one was a good match. We now have a wonderful editor whom I request whenever I submit.

If you do find an editor you like, you are truly blessed. And if you haven’t yet, keep looking until you find one.