I Farm, Therefore I Am (a Santangelo)

Bean plant and edible wild purslane

You may have noticed, my May blogs were scarce.  I can blame this partly on FEAR ITSELF.  The first month of a book's life is filled with signings, library talks and the like.  But my May blogs were scarce last year, too.  May is planting time.

The bell peppers, green beans, Genovese basil and beefsteak tomato plants have been in a week or more.  This morning I finished up by putting in the kumato tomatoes and sweet basil.  The first of the lettuce was harvested on Memorial Day, and my herbs are in decent shape, especially the oregano, chives, and sage (God bless 'em (see my last blog on superstitions)).

Purple sage flowers

Why do I do this?  I could say there's nothing like vegetables fresh from the garden.  It's true.  I could point out that growing your own is economical.  For the price of a pack of seeds per crop, I get a summer's worth of produce.  This year I dried my own sweet basil and tomato seeds, and the lettuce reseeded itself, so the yield from those plants is free.  Plus I give my extra plants to friends.  If everyone did this, we could feed the world.

Really, though, I think farming's in my blood.  On the 1920 U.S. census and on his WWI draft card, my Santangelo grandfather listed his profession as "farmer" even though he also made shoes and kept a small grocery store.  When my father was growing up in the 1920s and '30s, his older sisters sometimes took him to New Jersey in the summer.  They weren't after a vacation at the shore-- they were migrant farm workers, picking blueberries, peaches, whatever. 

Lettuce

Almost all of my dad's seven siblings raised vegetables.  My Aunt Marie also had an amazing concord grape arbor and made jam.  My Uncle Louis was a professional farmer.  Two of his sons still are.  My dad's biggest compliment when I made good in the garden was "Now you're a farmer."

Of all the things I do--writing, singing, accounting, historical research, ranting about politicians--nothing gives me the same solid, wholesome feeling as when I'm growing something to eat.  I feel connected to the earth and to a long line of my ancestors.

Beefsteak tomato

So, even though it means getting up before the heat of the day, to water everything, hoe up weeds, tie up vines, and maybe jury-rig ways to keep the neighborhood cats from digging up my plants, I'll keep up my little veggie/herb patch as long as I'm physically able.

When I farm, I know who I am.

Peace,
Elena

Don't Make A Will Or You'll Die

Note:  I wrote this especially for Friday the 13th.  Blogger was down this morning.  Coincidence?  I think not.
My series protagonist, Pat Montella, would tell you that she inherited plenty of her family's Italian superstitions.  Today being Friday the 13th, it's the perfect day to talk about them.

As you might expect, Pat and I grew up with the same superstitions.  The Santangelos always began each New Year by eating pork the first thing after midnight, to bring us all luck in the coming twelve months.  My dad's folks were farmers who planted their root vegetables on March 19th, so St. Joseph would bless the crop.  And if you ever felt inspired to express your pleasure about someone's garden--"Look at those pretty roses!" or "My, the tomato plants are big this year!"--you always had to follow the comment with "God bless 'em!"  Otherwise the plants might wither and die.

My mom told of how her grandmother would make a cross from silver knives and place it out at the end of her yard in the summer, so lightning would hit them instead of the house.  Silver conducts electricity.  Whether she knew it or not, she was making a lightning rod.  Another thing Mom did was to bring home palm blessed by the priest on Palm Sunday and put a piece in each room of the house.  This also was to protect the house from lightning.  Interestingly enough, lightning actually did hit our house once.  The only consequence was that it short-circuited the bathroom outlet.  The bathroom was the only room with no palm.  Call me crazy but I still keep a piece in each room.

The title of this blog?  Yes, that was one of their superstitions, too.

All this said, my family didn't much believe in the Malocchio (that is, the Evil Eye.  Mom used to pronounce it malorky.  Other Italian Americans I know say maloiks).  One of our neighbors down the block mounted a rack of real bullhorns on her garage.  I never did find out why cow horns were supposed to be protection, but this particular women was certain that one of the neighbors on either side was giving her the Malocchio.  I remember trying to explain the horns to my Pennsylvania Dutch friends.

Someone once gave me a necklace with a horn amulet, which I've even worn together with a crucifix.  Doesn't hurt to hedge one's bets.

Peace, good luck and God bless,
Elena

Why Do You Choose Certain Authors?

I attended the Malice Domestic Convention this past weekend.  Malice Domestic celebrates traditional mystery literature, the kind Agatha Christie wrote, with bodies in the library and such.  Nowadays, the definition is a bit broader, with bodies everywhere from Cabot Cove, Maine to the mean streets of LA, and around the world, but at Malice, you'll still find more whodunits than dark, gritty thrillers.

I could write pages about all the terrific fans and writers I met.  I found some new authors, like J.J. Murphy who writes about Dorothy Parker and the Algonquin Round Table, and John Cullen, who deciphered Dame Agatha's handwriting and transcribed her writing notebooks.

Instead, I'll mention one discussion that got me thinking about  why readers choose certain authors.  We were talking about law mysteries.  One lawyer friend of mine said she doesn't read them.  She reads to escape and doesn't want to spend time in the same setting where she works.  Then she admitted that she does read Margaret Maron's Deborah Knott series, saying "but she's a judge."

I thought about why I read the Deborah Knott series.  Not for the law aspect.  Maron's Carolina settings bring back to me the happy times I've spent vacationing and eating my way through that region.  I like the character of Deborah.  She's intelligent and down to earth, a person with whom I love to spend time.  I like  her big family and all their antics, all the brothers that I can't keep straight.  The mystery plots are always good.  Maron's prose is beautiful.  If you took the courtroom scenes away, I'd still read the series.

Lisa Scottoline's novels have lots of "law" in them, but I read those books more because I feel at home in them.  Mary DiNunzio's family isn't so different from mine.  I understand their notion of food equaling love.  And, having grown up in the Philadelphia area, the settings are familiar to me.  I can even vividly picture the Federal  Courthouse, because I did jury duty there.  Lisa makes the "law" parts of her books interesting, but frankly, I don't choose her novels because of them.

Still, lots of readers probably do read law mysteries for the law in them, just like some readers pick up cat mysteries specifically because of the cats, or cooking mysteries because of the food.  Yet, it's still important for authors to make their characters, plots and settings strong, to win over those readers not otherwise interested in their subject matter.

I had one fan this weekend say, "I don't normally like history, but I like your series," and another say the same thing about not usually liking ghosts in books.

That to me proves that what a lot of readers want is simply a good story.  I'd be interested in hearing your opinion.

Peace,
Elena

It's Here!

Yesterday copies of FEAR ITSELF showed up at my door.  One of the high points in a writer's life is holding one of your books in your hands for the first time.  This was an even than I expected because the books arrived a week early.  Of course, for all writers, reality settles in the next day and you have to get back to work selling the things.

To that end:  FEAR ITSELF is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and through the bookseller of your choice.  Eventually, it will also be out as an ebook.

In the Never Fear Fear Itself Contest, I handled the final drawing this way.  I wrote all the previous winners names on slips of paper and dropped the papers down the stairwell from my upstairs hall.  The one that fluttered the farthest won.

The winner is Karen Mayers of San Bruno, CA.

Peace,
Elena

Too Many Hats

I think I've posted before about a writer's need to be 2 persons when working on a project.  One has to be creative, uninhibited and a bit zany. That's where the ideas come from, and the solutions, when you've painted your characters into a corner.  The other must be a persnickety, no-nonsense editor, who finds the misspellings, typos and plot loopholes, and who reigns in the creative other half enough that the story stays believable.

When the project's done, even more personalities have to kick in.  You need to be an outgoing salesperson to get that manuscript under the eyes of an agent or publisher.  You need a back-pocket lawyer to assess each contract.  You need a meticulous accountant who logs receipts and knows what goes onto a Schedule C (even if you don't do your own taxes, you have to know which receipts to keep, and be able to decipher a royalty statement).

The personality I've been the last few weeks has been the publicist.  These days, even in the big publishing  houses, no one's going to put many bucks or manpower behind promotion of your works.  That is, of course, unless you're fairly famous already.  THEN they'll publicize you.  Yes, ironic that authors get too little publicity until it isn't needed anymore, but that's reality.

So writers need to do their own promotion.  In recent years, it's become easier to do this online.  First of all, you need a website, which is your homebase.  Besides author, book and short story info, you can post photos, videos, excerpts, poems, recipes, games--anything that might be fun for the readers and can be tied back to one or more books or to you personally.

Sites like Amazon, BookTour, and GoodReads now all have author pages, letting you post your bio, photos, videos, events, and a link for your blog entries.  These are like mini-billboards for your products, and can all be linked back to your website.  I like the fact that I can list my events on BookTour and have them automatically appear on my home page.

Facebook is a great way to keep in touch with fans.  You can post your events there and invite people, giving mere book signings more of a party atmosphere.  You can post photos of your covers and videos of book trailers.  You can have characters come out to play with fans.

Of course, you'll still have all the old-fashioned publicity chores--book signings/tours to organize, conventions to attend, business cards/bookmarks/postcards to have printed.  I like to bring some kind of promotional item to conventions and signings, too.  With my last novel, I passed out little pill bottles filled with M&Ms.  For DAME AGATHA'S SHORTS, I taped English toffees and butterscotch to business cards.  This year, I have mini Champagne bottles filled with bubble liquid.  Within 24 hours, the Malice Domestic Convention ought to look like the set for the Lawrence Welk Show.

So I've been working on all of these things.  When my FEAR ITSELF cover (above) showed up last week, promotion kicked into high gear.  The great thing about doing publicity--updating your online sites, seeing your cover for the first time, hearing from fans that they're looking forward to the book--is that it keeps you excited, and that means you'll carry more energy into signings and to conventions.

The bad thing is that being your own publicist takes so much time away from writing.

Peace,
Elena

Answers to 3rd Quiz

Here are the correct answers to Miss Maggie's 18th century quiz:

1. Elixir of vitriol was made from alcohol, "aromatics" (usually ginger or cinnamon), and sulfuric acid.  Yum. Makes castor oil sound like dessert.

2. The general who led Continental troops down the Williamsburg peninsula, tailing British general Cornwallis was Lafayette.  Washington was up north, keeping New York and Philadelphia safe while he coordinated the addition of French troops to the Continental ranks.  He joined Lafayette 2 months later at Yorktown.

3.  The 18th century anthology Pills to Purge Melancholy contained bawdy songs.

We have three winners:  Lelia Taylor, Karen Mayers, and J. Haupin.  They will each receive a free copy of the book of their choice by me and be entered in the grand drawing in late April for a free hot-off-the-press copy of FEAR ITSELF.

Peace,

Elena

Never Fear Fear Itself Contest #3 - Win a Free Book!

Here you go:  Quiz 3 of the Never Fear Fear Itself Contest.  The 3rd novel in the Possessed Mystery Series is POISON TO PURGE MELANCHOLY, a trip back in time to 1783 Williamsburg.  In it, you'll find early American Yuletide customs such as mummers' plays, rum punch, and sumptuous dinners, plus a frightening look at medicine, then and now.

Send your answers to the quiz below, along with your full name, to MissMaggieTests@gmail.com.  All entries who ace the quiz will be entered in a drawing to win the free signed book of their choice from the Possessed Mystery Series or DAME AGATHA'S SHORTS.  If you have all 4 books already and can't think of anyone who'd like one as a gift, tell me that on your entry.  Another prize will be selected for you.  If no one aces the quiz, the person with the best score will win.  Entries not selected in this drawing will be eligible for the next drawing.  In April, I'll do a grand prize drawing for a signed copy of FEAR ITSELF, due out at the end of that month.

Only entries sent to MissMaggieTests@gmail.com will be eligible.  Deadline for entries for the quiz below will be March 31, 2011.  Winners will be announced April 1st.

1.  A wealthy man walks into an apothecary and pays a shilling to see the doctor, who prescribes an elixir of vitriol, which the apothecary prepares for the patient.  This elixir is made from alcohol, "aromatics" (usually ginger or cinnamon), and

a)  camphor.

b)  mercury.

c)  sulfuric acid.

d)  aloe.

2.  When the British Army under General Cornwallis marched into Williamsburg on June 25, 1781, many of the residents, fed up with the long war, welcomed them.  Meanwhile, they were followed at a distance by Continental troops under the command of General

a)  Washington.

b)  Lafayette.

c)  Rochambeau.

d)  Wayne.

3.  The mystery novel Poison to Purge Melancholy takes its title from an 18th century publication called Pills to Purge Melancholy, which contained

a)  a list of medications for depression.

b)  herbal remedies for constipation.

c)  chocolate recipes.

d)  bawdy songs.

Peace,

Elena