We are a group of published writers who come here weekly to entertain, inform, and encourage you in your writing and your reading journey. Grab a cup of coffee, get comfortable, and join us.
Every writer writes what they know and what they love—at least, hopefully. Sometimes, it’s also a specific genre or genres.
Of course we can go all sorts of directions in our writing as well as in our lives.
But me? It’ll come as no surprise to those of you who know me or read my stuff that I love dogs. And they’re not only important in my life. They’re important in my writing. And they’re the general theme of my writing.
I have had sixty-two novels published so far, with the sixty-second, my fourth Shelter of Secrets story for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, available starting now. It’s CANINE PROTECTION. Yes, canine. And number sixty-three, the fifth in my Shelter of Secrets series, CANINE REFUGE, will be published next year. I can’t tell you offhand how many of my books have featured dogs, but the great majority of them have.
Why? Well, they always say to write what you know, and I know dogs, and yes, I love them. My first mystery series, the Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter Mysteries, featured a tricolor Cavalier King Charles Spaniel named Lexie—the same name as one of the Cavaliers I owned when I wrote those stories. And Kendra was a lawyer who lived in the Hollywood Hills with Lexie. Yes, I was a practicing lawyer then, living in the Hollywood Hills, writing what I knew, kind of.
And right now, my first ruby Cavalier, Roxie, is staring at me as I write this. Her tricolor sister Cari is sleeping somewhere else, but she very often snoozes under my computer desk as I write.
Yes, I’m hooked on Cavaliers, but I don’t write much about them since I don’t want to overdo it with my readers. But other dogs, including service dogs, K-9s, and even pets—yes!
And including shelter dogs, like those in my Shelter of Secrets series which is ending next year. I’ve started writing the first book in a new series. And surprise, it also features dogs!
I’m always fascinated to learn why other writers write what they do—and if they also have ongoing themes in what they write.
So please comment here, you writers who are reading this. Do your stories contain any ongoing themes, and if so, what—and how did you decide to feature them?
“Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, but learning to dance in the rain…” Vivian Greene’s quote has been oft repeated.
Well, I think I’ve been waiting for the storm to pass for a long time now. Too long.
And the storms kept coming. It seems the clouds would part briefly and the sun shone brilliantly again. But then those dreaded clouds crept back across my horizon…
I’m poised in the wings of Life. Waiting. Now? I ask. Is it my turn NOW?
Oops. No. Someone else’s drama needs attention. And I step back into the shadows, ready to help.
I’d been writing articles about Hollywood for all my adult life. I came to Hollywood and met and interviewed the real movie stars. I’d been a Senior Unit Publicist at Columbia Studios. Then I was asked to write two books on Hollywood history, complete with authentic archive photos. After the success of those two non-fiction books, Hollywood Then and Now and Los Angeles Then and Now I ventured into the world of fiction. Mystery fiction.
I had met Maisie Dobbs author Jacquie Winspear when we were both honored by the Southern California Independent Book Sellers. We would meet up in Westwood where she was doing a writers’ course at UCLA, encouraging me to do the same. I did. As I waxed lyrical about Hollywood’s rich history, Jacquie encouraged me to write a mystery story set in Old Hollywood. Maisie Dobbs was her first mystery novel. She said that if she can do it, so can I!
I was scared. Me, a mystery writer – you mean like Aggie Christie? Me? But after completing novel and mystery writing courses at UCLA, I was invited to join Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime and attended their workshops and conferences. I LOVED this new world of mystery writers. They’re the best! I thoroughly enjoyed the gruesome forensic workshops and was enthralled listening to the successful novelists share their wisdom and encouragement.
And so I learned – and I wrote.
I met Gayle Bartos-Pool, Jackie Houchin and Miko Johnson at those conferences. Now lifelong friends, we started our own writers’ group, Writers-In-Residence and met at the Burbank library to share pages of our writing projects, critiquing, discussing and encouraging each other. This Blog came later.
In the midst of all this, I was taking care of my ailing mother-in-law until she passed, and a domestically-hopeless-but-wonderful, hard-working husband, Rick.
I had completed my first mystery novel and was gathering notes for the second and third in the series “Lottie Topaz Hollywood Mysteries.” I had my list of potential literary agents ready. I started sending my submissions out to the most obvious agents, then was working my way down the list. I had sort of designed my new website for the launch of my first mystery novel. I had mock-ups of cover designs. My new brief bio was written. I was ready.
But then, without warning, my darling husband Rick died of a heart attack. I was at my desk, sending another ten pages to an agent when he cried out and collapsed.
Obviously, my world stopped. I was shattered. I had no idea who I was any longer. I loved being Rick’s wife. Now I wasn’t. What was I? Who was I?
That storm lingered a lot longer than I ever could have imagined.
It was shortly after that that the Woman’s Club of Hollywood asked for my help. Numb, I said yes. I buried myself in saving that historic club as I worked through my grief. And, boy, was that a never-ending can of worms at the Woman’s Club! There’s a whole book in all the shenanigans that can go on in those historic buildings. Don’t get me started on the ghosts that linger from the days when Jean Harlow (as Harlean Carpenter) attended school there with Douglas Fairbanks Junior. Although, having grown up in England, lots of places have ghosts, so I’m used to them. But that’s a whole other tale…
For the longest time I could not even look at my Lottie Topaz manuscript. It’s what I was doing when Rick died. I made every excuse under the sun. But, like the mustard seed that needs watering in order to grow into a huge tree, we have to feed our writer’s mind, that writer’s soul.
I neglected my writing brain for too long. But this Writers’ Blog helped me work my way back as a writer. Word by word, blog by blog.
The encouragement from Gayle, Jackie, Miko and all of you really helped me tiptoe out from under that dark storm cloud. I began working on another story I had started ages ago.
Step by step, I got my writing legs back. I found the music in my life again.
And now I am on Lottie’s case once more. Her Book Two is under way. And Book Three is forming in my head. I have copious notes and old news clippings to peruse. I will find a home for Lottie’s debut novel. It took longer than I thought, but – hey – I’m not afraid of those storms. I’ve learned to dance in the rain and love it!
I penned another stand-alone mystery. A DOOMED REUNION is fresh off the press and available in hardcover, paperback, and e-book editions.
This one is short (170 pages). Either I have learned to get my point across with fewer words or have become lazy. (haha)
As to the location, I invented a fictional town called Seabreeze and placed it along the California coastline between Del Mar and La Jolla.
People with old school ties attend a 30th high school reunion and are shocked to hear one of the attendees say he knows who murdered a classmate years earlier. That knowledge gets him killed.
Can Detective Scharfkopf with the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department piece together what happened back then to catch the person who has lived with this secret all these years… before another body is added to the list?
Alice Zogg was born and raised in Switzerland. She met her husband, a fellow Swiss, in New York City, and the two made their home in the United States. The family relocated to Southern California in 1967, where they have resided. She is an avid traveler and plays racquetball and golf. She has written over 20 books.
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BOOK REVIEW – I read Alice Zogg’s new book. Yes, it is short, but the crime, plotting, and investigation are complete. You don’t feel cheated at all. The murder happens after a high school class reunion when one person blatantly claims to know the murderer of an unpopular student 30 years previously. Does he? Someone believes him and, in unusual circumstances “offs” the guy. The detective is charged with solving not one but two murders. The questioning, deduction, and final moments of revelation are well-plotted and written. I enjoyed reading it! ~~~ Jackie Houchin
My late father co-founded a non-profit organization dedicated to Scandinavian philately. In addition to translating and publishing educational books on the subject, the group held monthly meetings as well as annual exhibitions where members could present their best work. Dad served as their president for many years; his name and phone number appeared on all contact sources.
He wasn’t home the day a young man called for more information about the organization. I offered to answer as much as I could. His first question: “Can you join if you’re under eighteen?” Yes, I told him, there is no age limit. “Can I bring another guy to the meetings?” Sure, I said, but something told me he had something, um, different in mind. I then said, “You do realize that philately is stamp collecting.”
“Oh.” He promptly hung up.
We spend a great deal of time writing about words on this blog. If you hunt through our archives, you’ll find many posts on the topic, which should come as no surprise. Words are the most important tool in a writer’s toolbox. We think about them, which one to use in any situation, whether a particular word or one of its cousins (aka synonyms) would be more precise, more distinctive. Can we convert that verb/adverb pairing into one verb? How many descriptives can we edit out without losing the image, the rhythm, or the voice of a character?
Words convey and put into context images, thoughts and ideas, especially when they’re carefully selected. We have non-verbal ways of communicating as well, but unless there’s some established pattern to it, such as sign language or Morse code, their subtlety makes them less effective for interpretation – is she slouching because she’s humiliated, or her back hurts?
Whether spoken or written, signed or signaled, we rely on words as the basis of communication. Misinterpretations may cause embarrassment, as my earlier story shows, but in the right hands they surprise in an entertaining way. Writers can inform the reader without the character’s knowledge, a technique I relied upon in my first novel, when my protagonist was a child. Or they can make the reader wait – ideally with keen anticipation – for information the character already knows.
We can use words to assure clarity of thought, or to deliberately deceive. Red herrings in mysteries fall into the latter category, as do ambiguous phrases meant to mislead the reader into thinking something the author intends to prove wrong later. I’ve done this so often in my writing it might be a hallmark of my style.
Words have the power to calm and reassure, to encourage and inspire, or to agitate and inflame. Think of all the influential speeches you’ve heard or read, or the memorable phrases culled from them. Whether by actors reading from a script, politicians addressing their constituents, or activists crusading for their cause, their words, carefully chosen with deliberation, hold the power to move people. To bolster their spirits, or shock them. Convince them they’re right, or maybe, just maybe, they’re not.
All have one thing in common: Someone, or some ones, wrote those words.
Not to equate a frothy page-turner with The Gettysburg Address, but I celebrate writers who celebrate the written word. I commiserate with writers who agonize over the best way to express their or their characters’, thoughts. I respect writers for what they try to accomplish whenever they put pen to paper or fingers on the keyboard.
That’s why we deserve a formal representation for what we do.
The practice of medicine has a symbol – a caduceus with two snakes coiled around it. The symbol of law is the scales of justice. No formal symbol of writing exists, although if you Google it you’ll find cartoons of a hand holding a pencil or pen.
What do you think would make an apt symbol for writers?
Miko Johnston, a founding member of The Writers in Residence, is the author of the historical fiction series, “A Petal in the Wind”, as well as a contributor to several anthologies including the recently released “Whidbey Island: An Insider’s Guide”. Miko lives in Washington (the big one) with her rocket scientist husband. Contact her at mikojohnstonauthor@gmail.com
But me? It’ll come as no surprise to those of you who know me or read my stuff that I love dogs. And they’re not only important in my life. They’re important in my writing. And they’re the general theme of my writing.
The Writers in Residence 
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