Patricia Stoltey

Author

Mix and Match Thursday

By:

DON’T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT TODAY IF YOU WANT TO ENTER THE RUNNING FOR A SIGNED COPY OF THE DESERT HEDGE MURDERS AND A SURPRISE BONUS GIFT.

What I’m Reading This Week:

A few weeks ago I read the Sophie Littlefield interview at Linda Faulkner’s Author Exchange Blog. I decided right then I wanted to read Sophie’s mystery, A Bad Day for Sorry. A quick search found the book was not available yet at any of the libraries in our region, so I put in a request for a library purchase. I was contacted last week that the book had arrived. Hurrying to finish Some Buried Caesar by Rex Stout, I then made a library run.

The main character in this crime novel is a fifty-something sewing shop owner in Missouri. She’s also a self-appointed enforcer in her free time, tracking down men who abuse their wives or girlfriends to give them a taste of their own medicine. Here’s a short quote from the novel’s prologue:

“Whuppin’ ass wasn’t so hard, Stella Hardesty thought as she took aim with the little Raven .25 she took off a cheating son-of-a-bitch in Kansas City last month.”

The rest of that very short prologue is a hoot, but I’m not going to spoil the fun by putting any more of it here. Stella is tough and rough, but she has a real soft heart for the damaged women who come to her for help. Word gets around. After all, Stella took her own husband out with a wrench when she’d had enough of his abusive treatment.

What I’m Thinking About:

The flu. Upcoming travel and a big convention. Lots of people. I swear, if someone coughs on me and I get sick, I’ll write him into my next mystery…as a victim.

I’m also thinking about Saturday’s two-hour event at the library when community folks will write a story, one sentence at the time, on the sidewalk around the library block. We’re using chalk, of course. Local authors (including me) will be there to contribute our sentences to the masterpiece, pass out our bookmarks, and chat about books. Should be a lot of fun.

My Quote of the Week:

“If widowhood had given Stella license to explore her authentic self, menopause stood under the window yelling at the bitch to come out and rumble.”
———-Sophie Littlefield in A Bad Day for Sorry

This Week’s Recommended Blog:

Susan Helene Gottfried at West of Mars. Susan announces book giveaways, guest bloggers, interviews, and other relevant links. She’s very interested in helping promote newly published authors and their books. Stop by West of Mars and get acquainted.

The Best Thing I Had to Eat This Week:

No contest. My hubby and I went to a college football game last Saturday. I had a hot dog. In a bun. With mustard and onions. No, I’m not kidding. We rarely eat hot dogs at home, so this was a treat. Almost as good as chocolate.

DON’T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT TODAY IF YOU WANT TO ENTER THE RUNNING FOR A SIGNED COPY OF THE DESERT HEDGE MURDERS AND A SURPRISE BONUS GIFT.

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Comments

  1. It was my pleasure, Susan. Win a Book is a cool idea and a great service to all of us who love to read.

    Stephen, I have to agree on the brand. I used to believe Oscar Mayer dogs were the best, but not after tasting Hebrew National.

    Elspeth, pre-scheduling the posts in Blogger turned out to be very easy (once someone told me how). When you have the screen up to create a new post, there’s a little thing down in the left hand corner that says Post Options. If you click on that, it brings up a couple of boxes on the lower right hand side that allow you to set a future date and time. Set those when you want the blog post to publish, and then click Publish. Your post will go into a separate queue that is called Scheduled. There’s a lot more to this story, but that’s the basic way to pre-schedule. I’m not sure I’ve figured out the tagging thing in Blogger so we’ll leave that for another day.

  2. Aww, Patricia, thanks for the plug! Win a Book is definitely the labor of my heart. I hope you as an author get a huge boost from it and a bunch of new readers. And that your current readers will come play along — both as a reader and as a contributor.

  3. We rarely eat hot dogs, but occassionally at Costco I buy one. Thet’re Hebre Nationals. The big ones. Its been a few months, and now I want one. I know where I’m going for lunch today.

    Stephen Tremp

  4. I get every bug my kids bring home, and unfortunately when you’re an at-home writer the union doesn’t give sick days.

    That sounds like an interesting book and a blog I will definitely check out! I’m still trying to get the hang of how to work these blogs – any advice would be great. How to do you time it to post, Patricia? And tagging – how is that done?

    Elspeth

  5. Hi Lynnette. I remember those days when my kids were little. They brought home every germ and virus that made the rounds in their schools, and I caught every single one of them. Hope you stay well.

  8. Great quote from a Bad Day for Sorry. It sounds like a fun book to read so I had to add it to my list. I can’t remember the last hot dog I ate – maybe you have to be at some sort of sporting event to really enjoy one.

  9. Hi Elizabeth. My hubby and I got our regular flu shots last week, but we’re not on the priority list for the H1N1 vaccine since we’re over 65 and relatively healthy. I guess we cross our fingers, use our germ and virus killer wipes, and avoid folks who look sick.

    As I’ve suggested in this blog before, if you’re sick, please stay home, even if you think it’s just a cold.

  11. Oh, Sylvia, I wish I could really get up that early on a regular basis. One writer I admire writes every day starting at 4:30 AM. But truth is I write my blog posts the day before, often the night before, and pre-schedule them to post at 4:00 AM. There are so many folks who prefer to do their blog-hopping over coffee in the morning, and I want to be ready for company. I’m usually up by 6:30 or 7:00, but I can’t function until I’ve had coffee and my English Muffin (with crunchy peanut butter).

    As for chocolate chip cookies, Karen, they are in the class of foods that are so good I can’t keep them in the house. I’ll bake a batch once during the holidays and they’ll be gone in a flash.

  13. So! You’re up early too I see! Early bird and worms and all that jazz! Love to read your blog. Best thing I ate yesterday was Swiss Chard sauted down with EVOO, garlic, and white beans. Yum!!