(Blog) Housekeeping & Inspiration

(Jackie Houchin is standing in temporarily for another member.)

Before we go on to some inspiring quotes from a dozen great mystery writers, here’s a little housekeeping to help you get the most from our blog.

1. Have you ever been unable to see or post comments on The Writers In Residence blog?  Here’s a trick to try.

When you first open the page, “click on” the title of the post. NOT the site title, but the new posting title. In this case, it would be “Housekeeping & Inspiration.”  The page should adjust, and then you will be able to see the Comments section.  Try it!  PS: You will also be able to see the extended bio of the current posting’s author.

2. If you are curious about the rest of us bloggers, you can go to the top of the site and click on “About.”  This will give you the complete list of bios by author.

3. From the sidebar, you can also search past postings by typing in an author’s name in the “Search” box and clicking. Recent articles by that author will appear. You can also type in a topic. If we have covered that, you will see them as well.

4. If you came upon our blog via social media and like what you see, you can enter your email address in the next box and click on “Subscribe.”  Then you will receive an email every Wednesday with a link to the new post. We’d love for you to join us!

5. Further down the side bar,  you will see “Recent Posts,” and under that, you can search by month and year in the “Archives”.  We go back to 2009!

6. If you have any other questions, you can use the “Contact” feature at the top of the page, but (blush, blush) I’m not sure at this point, whom that will go to! Eek! If all else fails, and you are SERIOUS, you can email me. Photojaq@aol.com.

And now for the INSPIRING QUOTES! *

“The mystery story is two stories in one: the story of what happened and the story of what appeared to happen.”  Mary Roberts Reinhart

“There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.” The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle

Another dead body. Every year it is the same. Every year, another dead body…”  Lion in the Valley by Elizabeth Peters

“All things are poisons, for there is nothing without poisonous qualities. It is only the dose which makes the thing poison.” Paracelsus

“The best crime novels are all based on people keeping secrets.” Alafair Burke

“Revenge is sweet and not fattening.” Alfred Hitchcock

“Conversations are always dangerous, if you have something to hide.” A Caribbean Mystery by Agatha Christie

“People are straightforward enough, on the whole, till one starts to look for crooked motives, and then, oh boy, how crooked can they be!” The Ivy Tree by Mary Stewart

“Truth will come to sight; murder cannot be hid long.” The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare

“There simply must be a corpse in a detective novel, and the deader the corpse the better.” S. S. Van Dine

“The great advantage about telling the truth is that nobody ever believes it.” Dorothy L. Sayers

“Very few of us are what we seem” The Man in the Mist by Agatha Christie.

*This collection of quotes is from The Bookish Sleuth, Mystery Reader’s Calendar by mystery writer, Sara Rosett

A Blog Challenge – Write the Chapter Titles in Your Autobiography

by Jackie Houchin

On my Personal Blog: “Words and Reviews” I took part in what WordPress called BLOGanuary. It was a gimic at the first of the year to get bloggers to  write every day. They sent questions to answer, and tags so you could connect with the community. It worked I guess. I went from 79 to 91 to 141 followers in one month! (Yeah, I know that’s no big deal, but my blog is less than a year old, and I don’t promote it much.)

Anywho, the question of post #30 was: What would you title the chapters of your autobiography?

At first I thought this challenge was just TOO hard.

I didn’t WANT to write an autobiography or even a memoir.  (Although a friend in THIS writer’s group blog has encouraged us to do just that. “Everyone has a story!” Gayle Bartos-Pool urges. And yes, she wrote her own life’s story, wonderfully illustrated, titled – A SCRAPBOOK LIFE.)

OK, I told myself, I’ll write down just TEN chapter headings and be done.

THIS is what I came up with….

Chapter — Title

  1. A Baby Sister!
  2. Hanging By a Head
  3. The Bobby Pin
  4. The Long Trek
  5. Trailor Park Life
  6.  Daddy’s Demise
  7.  Rude Awakening
  8. An Auto Repair Shop
  9. The Lone Ranger
  10. Joe Boysen
  11. The Gunsmith
  12. Church Camp Decision
  13. Nancy’s House
  14. Locker Combinations
  15. The 3-Mile Walk
  16. Pimples and Fat
  17. Denny Murphy
  18. The Evil Out There
  19. Double Dating
  20. A Twelth-Grade Diamond
  21. Dr Dentist
  22. Hollywood Firsts
  23. No Valentine’s Day
  24. Miramar Reality
  25. Cats and Cooking Disasters
  26. Baby Mine
  27. Hot Rods First
  28. Adoption Debacle
  29. Terror and Escapes
  30. Wrong Way Turns
  31. Dancing With Devils
  32. Comedy and Tragedy
  33. Horsing Around
  34. Deadly Diagnosis
  35. The Southern Retreat
  36. Faith
  37. Africa and Beyond
  38. Letters to Kids
  39. Pandemic Teaching
  40. See, Hear, Speak No Evil
  41. Cruising
  42. Grands and Greats
  43. Facing the Future

Gosh, maybe I SHOULD write my autobiography!

IF YOU WERE ME, with which chapter would YOU begin writing?  From 1 to 43, or here and there?  Tell me your answer in the Comments.

AND… let me challenge you to give this a try too.  Write out at least 10 chapter headings if YOU were to write YOUR autobiography.  Seriously. Try it! It may inspire you!

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